Semester's Over, Summer Takes Over (Beginnings and Endings Under a Starless Sky: First Stasis)

Well, maybe not exactly.

The sem will be officially be over once I write my critique paper about the database system of the graduate students. The sem will actually end once I convert that document into a PDF file and submit it online in Moodle on or before 11:59pm of March 29, 2008.

This sem was quite difficult for me for a myriad of reasons, not all I wish to say. But I am still amazed on how my grades did not suffer during those times of great struggle. Looking back, I went to school for the first time last November with doubt about my new profs saturating every part of my body, and I end the sem with the same magnitude of uncertainty, but this time, all that doubt points to the person I see every time I look in the mirror.

I will certainly miss Dr. Felix Muga, our Ma124 and Ma125 professor. For ten months worth of schooldays, I only listened to his monotonous voice and occasional laugh or giggle for only about three weeks or so: the first week of Ma124 and the first two weeks of Ma125. I will miss his unending patience, greatly exemplified during the times when only two or three students were intently listening to his book-taken (meaning confusing and ineffective) examples on Djikstra's Shortest Path Algorithm and Rings and Subrings. He never got angry and raised his tone even if most of us played Minesweeper, Text Twist, Desktop TD, 4 Second Frenzy and some more other games from addictinggames or wherever, blog-hopped, looked which basketball team won, and did other activities requiring a soundcard-less PC and an active internet connection. I admire his efforts to always be prepared for class, even if most of us do not give a damn about the lesson because it holds no practical application in life. I mean, you cannot possibly weigh your life and run a Python program for Kruskal's or Prim's algorithms, right?

I will certainly miss as well Ms. Isa Nazareno, my Hi16 prof. Her demeanor very much generated respect from all of us. Even if her teaching style was plain lectures with supplementary powerpoint presentations, she always had our attention (especially the time when we were discussing the Tang Dynasty were eunuchs proliferated). Well, it could be the fact that she resembles Rica Peralejo, or at least she does in my opinion. Thanks for the generosity of giving out a lot of extra credit activities during the whole semester. I will miss my histo classmates as well. I hope we bump each other somewhere in the campus sometimes and toss each other a hi or a hello, a vigorous wave, an acknowledging nod, a tap at the back or somewhere not private, and a happy smile.

I will miss Sir Toto Oppus and Sir Tristran Calasanz, my profs in Ps140. I will always remember their patience, Sir Toto in his lectures and Sir Tris in helping us in our breadboards and the circuitry laid in it. I will always remember as well Sir Toto's generosity and concern in giving out bonus points because he wanted for all of us to get a high mark in the lecture part of Ps140, and the enthusiasm of Sir Tris as he always wanted for us to enjoy what we were doing. Both of them shared a lot of things not related to the subject at all, and both of them always put up a very nice atmosphere around them as they always smiled.

I will wholeheartedly miss Ma'am Jess Sugay, my prof in CS122. I look up her efforts to still to go class and teach us patiently even if she's sick with the flu or even if she's loaded with projects in her masters. I will always go back to the excitement of each off-topic quiz. I might forget the syntax in SQL for finding the most expensive purchase of someone of some particular book of a specific category by some author in some database, but I will never forget the experience of being a student of a very fun, entertaining, approachable, and kind prof. We treat her like a friend, but we never forget that she is still our teacher in Database Systems. And yes, her cookies taste really good.

I will also miss Sir Francis Torres, our coach in Fencing. I will never forget his very nice smile which eases the pain of staying in a low on-guard position for several advances and retreats or eases the difficulty of a proper hop-lunge-recovery. I will miss holding a left-handed foil even if I'm not ambidextrous, spraying mask number 12 with Lysol before and after I wear it, and dueling one another. Poke poke poke. I will also miss Kuya Francis and Ate Irene, assistants of Sir Torres. I will miss the dance they choreographed for the culminating activity.

And yes, in some way, I will miss Dr. Tess Perez and her assistant Sir Perry too. I am still amazed that my grade in Sci10 is a B+, even if my quizzes and tests weren't all that great, or even good.

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Summer beckons me to approach its arid touch. I can feel laziness starting to consume me right this very moment. I ask myself if I am ready for a new beginning and leave, but not forget, the past. As my consciousness spaces out several times in rapid succession, I fight my way to regain control and stay sane.

A seemingly endless sem is finally over and a summer which was thought never to arrive is already in my reach. Yet I still remain standing, seemingly stranded, under a starless sky.