Posts tagged with academics

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September 8, 2009

Weekend notes 09/07/09

I spent almost the entire day last Sunday sleeping. Due to several unexpected circumstances, I was barely able to sleep the day before.

I started my Saturday early, reading through some materials for a bill I was drafting for Kabataan Partylist. Spent the afternoon at Kabab Korner along Matalino St. with Airah, my co-officer in the legislative staff. It was the first time I spent the afternoon at the place, and it turned out to be a pretty decent experience as there was barely anyone else around and there was free wifi access. I was able to finish the first draft of the bill by the end of the afternoon. The bill, by the way, is a magna carta of sorts for workers in the Business Processing Outsourcing (BPO) industry, who are mostly call center agents. Hopefully, we will be able to file it within this week, or the next. Read the privilege speech of Rep. Mong Palatino on the plight of call center agents and other BPO workers, for more information.

This weekend also marked the start of the bar exam season. Last Saturday night I went to Manila to pass by the bar operations (bar ops) of my fraternity and of UP Law. I was supposed to leave by midnight, but I ended up doing some legwork the entire night till that morning. Stationed at the Century Park hotel, every hour or so, I was running up and down, in an around the hotel getting tips from sources and slipping copies of the tips under the door of our barristers’ rooms. I didn’t expect myself to be doing this after three years in the frat, but all’s well in frat work. In between, I was able to lounge at one of the rooms we were able to reserve. Also one of my consolations was that I was able to get one of the breakfast buffet stubs which I abused Sunday morning before retiring and going home.

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August 9, 2009

Hanging on in the meantime

Last Saturday, I still took my midterm exams in Insurance. The previous night, I struggled to muster enough enthusiasm to review. At the back of my mind played the thought that staying up that late and re-reading piles of cases was worthless, because at the end of the day, it wouldn’t matter if I pass or if I get a high score in the exam because I won’t be able to enroll next semester anyway. However, I’ve decided to just go on. I will try to attend classes in the coming days while I await the final advice form the UP Law administration, in the rare and slim chance that I get through by some miracle–without being too hopeful, of course. Sure, it may be a waste of time and energy if what’s supposed to happen is inevitable. I just try to think of it as a way for me to take advantage of my last days in Malcolm Hall, and perhaps, for the pure desire to learn, regardless of the fact that I won’t earn any academic credit for it.

In between reviewing for the exam, I was also hopping over next-door for my undergraduate college organization‘s anniversary night, being held at the restaurant beside the coffee shop I was hanging out at. It was great seeing my contemporaries again, and catching up on their careers. Most of them are in media companies, for obvious reasons. As for myself, I told them I’m still in law school, though I left out the part where I was supposed to say I’m struggling to stay in law. It wasn’t a time to dampen the mood of people.

Last night I also went to another party, it was Inter-B, the inter-batch party of UP Law’s block B’s. The sophomores, that’s our batch, organized the event. Since I’m about to be out of the college soon anyway, I might as well attend the last inter-batch party I can attend as a student. I will miss my blockmates. They’ve been so supportive all along, ever since we all started out last year.

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August 6, 2009

Past academic shortcomings continue to haunt me

Just when I wrote about trying to start anew by chronicling my experiences in UP Law, my academic shortcomings last year come back to haunt me. I felt very distressed this afternoon after an unfortunate re-test of one of my freshman subjects. No matter how much I try to recover from my past mistakes or to reform from my, admittedly, poor performance last year by being much more diligent with my studies this year, they will continue to haunt me. There’s no use regretting to have taken up a lot of extra-curriculars last year and not offering my jealous devotion to law. My renewed enthusiasm in studying may well be for naught. I don’t know what to do now. To quit, I may, to transfer I might consider, but for now if it’s not meant to be, I shall take the break and surrender to my unfortunate academic fate.

I apologize to everyone I might be disappointing. I am thankful to those who understand. Admittedly, I felt terribly upset a while ago. All’s well now. But that’s probably it. Goodbye.

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August 5, 2009

I shall write more about my law school experience

I shall start to attempt writing down chronicles of my stay in law school. Perhaps it can be a way for me to totally imbibe the law school routine. Sometimes I feel like the reason why I don’t blog much about my experiences in law school is that I feel like everything is just some negligible routine which I don’t bother remembering for posterity. Up until now, I still don’t feel like I totally want to become a lawyer. I just struggle my way in the College of Law one day at a time, without fixating on the finish line or the thought of graduating too much. It’s difficult enough to think about getting by each week, after all. But that’s not right. I’m on my second year, and there’s no turning back.

Anyway, certainly there are things you don’t appreciate till they’re gone. This won’t be another Cory Aquino-related blog entry, though. (God bless her soul as the nation escorts her to her final resting place today). Yesterday the entire air-conditioning system of the College was down. It was like some inconvenient server crash. Some people know how much I sweat, often more than others. Needless to say, I was sweating profusely in my two classes. To make things worse, I got called for recitation and I was largely unprepared. And even more unfortunately, it was one of those sessions when I was the only one who was called to recite during the entire two-hour lecture. It was just one of those days. I got by, nonetheless, with lucky guesses and my classmates’ “radio coaching”.

In another matter, I’ve recently discovered the convenience of studying at Malcolm Hall’s student lounge. For the longest time since my freshman days, I always went to the library or to some coffee shop outside school to study during long breaks or after class. There seemed to be no other choice if I didn’t want to go home yet. However, the past weeks, since I lost my ID and the guard has blacklisted me from the library, I was forced to find an alternative academic hang-out, where I don’t have to buy anything. And then there was the student lounge at the ground floor. I always thought it was an exclusive tambayan for some law school cliques. Not quite, really. It was a homey, air-conditioned lounge complete with couches and other fixtures. Pretty neat.

Wow. This entry sounds quite mundane! Well, it’s a start. Hopefully if I get the hang of this, I shall write about some (academic) lessons learned, too, not only so that I could share them with everyone, but so I could recall them more easily, perhaps, (because I would be forced to digest legal doctrines and cases, unless you want me to write lengthily about them).

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June 28, 2009

A quick note before going back to the books

I’ve been trying to be as diligent as I can with my studies right now. I rarely hang out in school after class anymore, unless there are really important meetings, activities or errands. And when our internet connection was cut a few days ago, I didn’t quite mind it, as I was too busy reading cases and textbooks when I’m at home. Right now, I’m just finishing this entry before going back to my readings.

Anyway, last night, since all the other cinemas were booked because of Transformers: The Revenge of The Fallen, we found ourselves rediscovering the cinemas of Metro Manila’s first mall (okay, apparently, Harrison Plaza claims to be the older mall). The last time I was at the cinemas of Ali Mall was two or three years ago, when it was still all dingy and dark. It was the opening weekend then, I think, of The Da Vinci Code, and my friends and I gave up upon seeing the humongous crowd at Gateway Mall in Cubao. Upon my suggestion, we walked to Ali Mall and watched the movie in its large, decrepit, and largely empty cinema. Last night to our pleasant surprise, however, it’s a lot, lot better. Together with the rest of the mall, the cinemas have been renovated. The large cinema has been divided into three smaller and cozier modern theaters that look like the cinemas at Gateway. And since I don’t think a lot of people are aware of Ali Mall’s recent transformation, the box office lines were pleasantly short.

Transformers was a great visual treat. Nothing artsy-fartsy. Funny how I think like a law student sometimes even when watching movies. The moment Sam’s family home was destroyed my first thought was, damn, I wonder if their house is insured (or if the insurance policy will cover destruction by robot).

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June 17, 2009

Academic woes get worse

I’ve been quite distraught the past days over my academic standing in Law. I’m in the brink of being kicked out because of my grades. Kicked out temporarily, at least. Since I was already on probation during the second semester of my freshman year, I am not allowed to get any more failing marks, but after enrollment two weeks ago, our Criminal Law 2 grades came out and unfortunately, I got my first 5.0 ever. That should effectively dismiss me from UP Law. The anomaly and the confusion, however, is that I’ve already enrolled before the grade came out and that classes have already started, and I’ve signed my class cards and all the first-day shiz. Another thing is that the cause of my probationary status last semester, a 4.0 in Persons & Family Relations, is still unresolved. Now I don’t know if my enrollment is voided, if I can remain enrolled conditionally pending the resolution of my unremoved 4.0, or what? I still have to talk with our College Secretary to clarify my status and negotiate something.

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April 9, 2009

Prepare the Plan B’s and C’s

I don’t remember feeling so distraught after an exam. Usually, especially as an undergrad, I’d always feel liberated after an exam. Not this time. I just walked out of Malcolm Theater after my Criminal Law 2 exam looking dazed. Did I just seal my future in Law, or the lack thereof, with that exam? I couldn’t believe how, after all the sleepless nights cramming and studying crimes, I could not muster enough legal bases for my answers. To make things worse, I go out of the venue to my blockmates discussing the ‘right‘ answers, which unfortunately, were not the same as mine. And as it turned out, almost the entire exam came straight out of a sample exam that was made available in our block and which I neglected to run through.

If it turns out that I failed this exam, it might really be bye-bye Malcolm Hall. I posted an update at my Facebook wall the day before yesterday, saying that perhaps law isn’t really for me. There are times I feel like all these trouble–the many many sleepless nights, the stress, the lack of time for many things I may be doing–is it all worth it? Thinking about things I’d rather do makes me give in to these bouts of doubts. Now I feel quite uncertain about a lot of things.

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April 3, 2009

Just keep studying

For some days the past two weeks, I’ve been spending half the day at the Main Library in Diliman studying for my exams in UP Law. It’s something I thought of doing just to get away from the usual routine of reading at the Law library, or spending afternoons at fancy coffee shops. Being among undergrad students bring back a feeling of fondness, and it’s making me look forward to taking my backlog undergraduate subjects this summer.

Yes, I wouldn’t be able to have much free time this summer vacation, but I couldn’t care less. There are some things I’m willing to let go of just so I can feel like an undergrad again. Nakaka-miss.

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March 29, 2009

The block that loves block photos

This is a picture of my law school block taken almost a month ago, as our entry to Portia Sorority’s block photo contest. We didn’t win that one, but having our photo taken as a block was fun enough.

The next two photos are last-lecture-class photos with our professors in some subjects. My blockmate Chi did the postcard photoshop-ing effect.

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March 19, 2009

Walang puwang

Pagpasensiyahan niyo ulit na hindi na naman ako nakakapag-blog. Mula sa paghahanda para sa Student Regent Referendum noong December mula sa mismong Referendum noong January na sinundan kaagad ng student council elections sa UP, at pinagitnaan ng iba’t ibang gawain sa University Student Council. Mula paggising hanggang pagtulog talaga noong mga nakaraang buwan puno ng mga gawain ang schedule ko.

Pagkatapos na pagkatapos ng eleksyon, eto naman ako naghahabol nang todo sa pagbabasa at pag-aaral ng mga kaso. Nawawawalan na nga ako ng gana eh. Pero walang puwang para panghinaan ng loob. Kayod lang nang kayod. At Facebook. Ha ha ha! Sana nasa UP Law pa rin ako sa susunod na semester.

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