UNO!!!

Anyway, before I go to the post on why 'the sad face'. I want to say... I GOT 1.0 on my THESIS!!!

I was jumping up and down for about 2 hours this morning and then crying the next hour. It has been an emotional year, with all the hardships on the thesis, yearbook, erg and acads. And I felt so overwhelmed that I got a high grade with all the blood, sweat and tears I've done for my thesis. All worth it! :D

So okay, now we go on to why 'the sad face'.

Everyone knows that I'm graduating this April. (And if you don't know it.. well.. now you do. XD) I'm pretty excited about it. All those years of hard work, it finally paid off!

Unfortunately, my brother was sent to Qatar last April 1 and he'll stay there for a year. Then my Dad will be leaving tomorrow for Europe and stay there for 9 months. They won't even see me graduate.

Hence the sad face. :(

Only my mom will be able to be there on my special day. If I could have my way, I wish they would leave after my graduation but I can't be selfish. My heart feels heavy. ._.

BREATHE

I was so tired when I got home from school that after dinner and relaxing on my parents bed, I fell asleep. @_@

Well, stress stuff started last Wednesday, escalated by Saturday and started to diminish yesterday (Monday).

Stressful things:
1. Lola's funeral - Spent the whole Friday night up to Saturday morning. No sleep. Parents were not home for the past 3 days. ^^;
2. Thesis - Not yet finished. Target to finish the first draft by the end of January.
3. Academics - Report for 151, Interview for 197, EEE exam and homework, and Presentation for 173
4. Yearbook - For the ads and barkada pages and marketing stuff.
5. Jobfair - Where am I going to apply? What am I going to put in my resume? O_O
6. Gifts - Ahaha... last minute shopping! XD

De-stressers:

1. Barkada Bonding - Yay for Nikki's comeback! So sad I wasn't able to bring a camera, I forgot all about it because my parents used it that the morning and I didn't have any sleep. We didn't get to go to Global Fun Carnival because it was raining, but the seafood feast, cheesecake galore, exchange gifts and Monopoly more than made up for it! (I really wanted to go to the Carnival. ^^;) :P
2. My nephew and nieces - I love them to bits.
3. My pets - Because fun-loving dogs are so cute! Birds do the silliest things. XD
4. The Secret - Positive thinking gets you EVERYWHERE. ;)
5. Shopping - Enough said. :D
6. Internet - It's always nice to unwind by just browsing stuff.

Yesterday, I was in school by 8:30am for our report and got home around 7:10pm because we had to finish our interview. That explains the super tired feeling. ^^ Right now, I'm still researching for the homeworks. Ehehe... good thing I got some sleep before working. :)

Let's go!

Because I'm bored...



and stumbled upon the studio pics of the staff. I present my picture with the Associate Editor-in-Chief (Yacel) on left and the Graduation Bash Committee Head (Nat) on the right. I think we look really pretty in this pic. Hehe.. :P

Anyway, I'm waiting for the AFM results... which should be here by now. I'm trying to follow-up the whole thing with my advisers. I was supposed to go to school today, but it rained so I had an excuse not to go. XD

And I spent last night trying to train Aragorn. He is so smart! I love him to bits and pieces! I made him sit and then tugged at his ears... I love doing that! XD Anyway, I was training him to balance on his hind legs which was a bit difficult because his torso is big. Big, muscular doggie... wah! So adorable! I also love making him crawl... I could go on and on about that dog but I'd spare you the details. :p Oh and Luke is also participating in the training, sometimes he also does what Aragorn does (when he doesn't feel like interfering) and they look super duper cute together! *squeals*

I love them! :D

I'm trying to finish the records for the ybook payments. So far I have finished checking and encoding 5 out of 12 department courses. Yay! Almost half-done! :D After that I still have to follow-up on our letterheads so that I can start printing and sending letters. Mmm.. yeah, work work work. (Just like what the Peons like to say. :P)

And if Chrissa is reading this, I know you will love me because I just discovered this site.

OKHC Online Manga

This has the most updated list I've ever encountered, so yeah.. feel free to fawn over Tamaki and the rest of the gang. They are just lovable! XD

I *heart* Kyouya! *_*

Progress Report over...

Tomorrow is officially a "NO THESIS THINKING" Day. For just one day... I want to get all of that thesis out of my system.

I feel so tired. I just want to go to sleep and not wake up really early, 12 noon would be perfect! And then I'll just make my mind turn to mush by playing Sims all day. Heh.

Yesterday was food stuffing night... Since it was Dad's birthday, we all went (my brother was still in the office) to Tramway Garden Restaurant in Timog (my ninang suggested the place). It was an eat-all-you-can buffet and I was crying tears of joy to see a plate full of buchi at the table. T_T

And yes, I ate a little bit of everything and a whole lot of buchi! Wah! Buchi = lurve! XD

All that before trying to finish my presentation for today. I was able to finish my presentation around 4am and I slept up to 8:30am. With a very, very weird (but funny!) dream. O_O

I finally got myself an ice cream today, after weeks of not getting any DQ... today I got Pecan Cluster Blizzard and it was soooooo good! ^_____^ Next time I'll try Caramel Cashew. :D

Oh and I was finally able to go to Red Box last week (October 8). I sang a lot of songs without hogging the mic but still holding the mic.. haha! There is a technique... :p I also sang 'Sobakasu' by Judy and Mary, which is the first opening song of Rurouni Kenshin. They were all like, "Kathy? You can read Japanese?" because only the Japanese lyrics were shown and I kept shaking my head saying that I really don't. Hello? Tons of kanji.. haha.. But I was able to sing the whole song! XD

I hope I get to come back to RedBox and next time I shall sing another Japanese song... Every heart by BOA, anyone? :D

I should stop dreaming right now.

I mean, hello?! Finishing my thesis in 7 days? Am I asking for the impossible?

Haaaah...

I've been doing my best, I really have been.. but it's still not enough. I finished all my experiments last week. I finished the contact angle determination and gave the samples for AFM on Monday. It's just too bad I couldn't get a good SEM sked this week because it was already booked. I got a spot for Saturday afternoon and whole day on Monday next week.

Things missing from my thesis:
1. Finish getting the contact angles and making statistical observations.
2. SEM pictures, which I'll be doing this weekend up to next week.
3. Aluminum deposited on top of Polyimide (Need a Vacuum Evaporator.. huhu...), my adviser hasn't been able to contact the people we need. :(
4. Bend Test
5. Peel Test
6. Analysis... look for trends... @.@

So yeah... I have finally accepted the fact that after two years of having good grades, I'm going to get an INC on my classcard.

*super grade conscious person breaking down*

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

Why does it have to happen right now?! Right when everything is falling to place?!!! Why? why? why??? I tried my best! I really did! I have sacrificed a lot of sleep, eat and study time just to finish my experiments... I went home at midnight just to finish everything, I made permits, all those authorization passes and asked a friend to stay really late at the building just to be able to work at the lab (because I'm not allowed to work alone). I mean... I'm killing myself over this...

Why can't I just finish it this semester...?

Why? *cries*

*meltdown complete*

Okay... so it seems... I haven't FULLY accepted the fact that I'll get an INC in my classcard. :(

I feel really down right now.

I want ice cream. ._.

Thesis gonna be the end of me...

Really, I never fully understood why my friends had to stay really late in school for something like this.

NOW I KNOW.

*cries*

I'm rushing with my thesis right now. I still have 7 experiments to do. Each experiment needs about 5-6 hours to complete if I'm lucky... if not then I have to wait for 8 hours like yesterday. T_T

On top of that, I'm getting a bit sick. :( See... my immune system isn't that great, and when I got caught in the middle a heavy rainfall last Thursday I began having coughing fits. ;_; Aside from that, I got an eye irritation because I kept rubbing my eye yesterday and now my left eye is all swollen. Then there is not eating on time (because of waiting for the experiment) and if I ever eat, it's something unhealthy and easy to finish (because I have to go back to the lab for the next experiment). And I also lack sleep because I have to study or make reports for other academic subjects. ._.

I wish there was 100 hours in a day, that way I'd be able to finish all the experiments in one day and I'd have enough time to think about other things for the remaining time. T_T

I still need to characterize the samples (AFM at Ateneo) and I need a working vacuum evaporator. Haaaaaah. Stress. T__________________________T

*prays to finish the thesis this sem*

Pictures galore!

I went to the studio after the meeting for our report in MatE106. They finally found my barkada pics! Yay! :D

Anyway, I asked them to burn the barkada pics on my CD so I could show it to my friends but Ate Rhea was nice enough to give me all my pictures! Whee!! Happiness! XD (It really helps when you know the people in charge of the studio, hehehe... )

And so.. I uploaded all the pics in a private multiply folder because I feel much safer. If you want to comment again or you want to feel overwhelmed by my face all over the page, feel free to do so. They're all small pics though, I don't want to use the larger images. :P

Face of 2007... :D

After getting the pics, I went to T. Alonzo. I have never stepped on that place, so yeah.. it was quite an adventure getting there! I had to buy an aluminum sheet for my thesis and my friends told me how to get there. I had to walk down the street twice before finally seeing the hardware store that has what I need. It was quite expensive though. :( But not as expensive as the aluminum sheets that I found online. @_@

So.. I may be able to start on the experiments next week. As it turns out, my power supplies are still working fine. (But the capacitors are starting to leak.. O_o we'll just have that fixed when I'm finished with my thesis. ^^) And they delivered the correct Argon gas last week. I'm so happy! This is it! ^_________^

Let's hope that we could find trends in the results. I need to increase polyimide's adhesion... *prays for favorable results*

So short?

I passed my RRL yesterday, which I labored for 4 hours. And my thesis facilitator said it was so short. O_O Was I supposed to make it super long?! T_T

Good news yesterday was that I was able to get a 0.00014 torr reading. That's good enough! I can finally start on my experiments... as soon as I find an aluminum plate, get the current adjustment meter fixed and replace the wrong Argon gas (it was HP, I need UHP) that was delivered last month.

That and some of the papers I was worrying about had their deadlines moved. Yay! :D

Right now I'm finishing a couple of papers due next week. Someone else is going to collate it so I have to them pass early.

I'm definitely going to get a little bit of r&r during the long weekend. Hehe.. :)

First booth...

I cannot believe I survived the first booth for the yearbook! I was so haggard last week, getting home everyday at 8-9pm and entertaining tons of questions from the students. Soooooo stressful! >.<

But good thing we finished the courtesy call unscathed, or at least I would like to think it happened that way. Oh yes. *think happy thoughts*

I still feel tired today. I fell asleep all throughout my 4-5:30pm class. Wuuhh.. I only caught a few words. I tried to wake myself up, even tweaking my cellphone in the middle of the class (hehe, doing that while sitting on the front row) but argh! I couldn't help my sleepy eyes. =_=

I was also able to watch Transformers last Saturday, yay! And for the first time, I played LAN DOTA. O.o||| And I terribly lost! Hahaha! XD Oh well, I should have used Sven and his splash damage. Next time, I'll try that. :p (That next time would probably be after thesis.. lol)

Right now I'm finishing the lab report that must be submitted tomorrow. Meh, I'm planning not to attend the lab classes from 8:30am - 4pm because we're not required to go there. No experiment for our groups. I'll just go home and do whatever needs to be done for my thesis. Buuhhh... Thesis proposal will be due next week. Kinda scary. T_T

Breakout...

I am definitely stressed. I got pimples! Wah! T_T

BUT!!! I guess I'm doing alright. See, I was able to finish the assigned tasks for the yearbook, marketing letter for TNA (ERG), do my Physics pre-lab and post-lab report, search for a suitable etchant for polyimide and play Plantasia! XD

This week, I will have to work overtime for the yearbook because it's the 1st booth. And I also have to prepare for the courtesy call with the Dean. Wuhh.. pretty scary? Can you guys spare some tips? I don't want to fumble and mess things up. >.<

I still have a lot to do. I'm behind schedule for my thesis because we can't contact my lab instructor. She has the metal plate! What can I do without the metal plate?! And we still have to change the meter readings for the anode and solenoid. Oh nooooo! T_T

Please pray for me and my thesis... I really need it! ;_;

Today is Ash Wednesday...

...and I wasn't able to go to Mass! Waaaah! T_T

I had an exam at 7am in the morning at the new Physics building. I got there around 7:30am. Good thing the exam started at 7:25am, which makes me late by only 5 minutes! Woo.. Yay me! :P

After the exam, I texted Mam Ais if we were going to perform an experiment today. She replied that she had a fever and has to go to the infirmary, no lab work but we will still meet at 5pm for the spectroscopy workshop.

So what would I do? With no lab for the day, a technical paper to finish by tomorrow and an exam on Friday... I went straight home. When I was finally home, I remembered that I should have dropped by my teacher's office to get a copy of the peer review material and that I should have gone to church for Ash Wednesday Mass! >< Anyway, it was too late because I was already starting on my paper. I promised myself I'll go to church if the workshop won't push through. But the workshop went on as scheduled. The mass... T_T

Anyway, about the workshop, I got there at 5:05pm eventhough we agreed to meet at 5pm. Ehehe.. ^^; We went inside the Plasma Lab and waited for the them to start the lecture. While we were waiting, Doc Ramos showed us the latest projects they were working on. There was a mini-plasma etcher which has a low chance of releasing CO as by-product to the atmosphere (oh nooo!! The Ozone Layer! >_<). And another Carbonnanotubes Plasma thingy (didn't get the whole thing's name, hehe :P) which was really cool and very compact. It's still being synthesized to work, can you believe it? They build their own machines! It's amazing! :D After the mini tour, we settled in one corner of the room and our conversation was like this:

Mam Ais: May na-research ka na ba para sa thesis mo?
Me: Wala pa po, wala po kasi akong time ngayon ang dami pong sunod-sunod na ginagawa.
Mam Ais: Ah ganun ba? Naku kelangan mo na simulan yan kasi kelangan mo ng 50 related literature.
Me: FIFTY PO?! *surprised look* Ang dami naman... *sad face*
Mam Ais: Ay sa Master's pala yun fifty, siguro mga thirty lang sa inyo.
Me: Madami pa rin po ang thirty...
Mam Ais: Ako nga dami kong nakuha pero hindi naman ganun ka-related sa thesis ko kaya namomroblema ako ngayon.
Me: Ganun po ba...
Mam Ais: Kung gusto mo pwede ka dyan sa paggawa ng carbonnanotubes.
Me: Po? (Sa utak ko: Oh my ghulay! ANO ANG CARBONNANOTUBES?! Dapat may naka-install na wikipedia sa brain ko para alam ko susunod kong sasabihin! >_< )
Mam Ais: Sila Ayla yun ang ginawa, nag-sinter sila tapos gawa nun tapos sintering ulit. Pero yan gagamit ka na nang plasma.
Me: Umm.. Kala ko po ISE na ko? Di ko po alam pano yan gagamitin.
Mam Ais: Ah, pero dapat may plan B ka, just in case di mo magamit yung ISE.

What am I going to do? O_O I mean, it's hard enough to prepare for one topic... now I have to prepare for two topics? O_o;;

This is so stressful. T_T

The lecture was draining, I couldn't understand half the words being said because they were physics jargons I have never heard of. Sir Tumlos was the lecturer, I don't know if he remembers me as his student. >_< But I was able to understand the gist of how the spectrometer works and what method to use in spectroscopy, even though I fell asleep (but only for 30 seconds! I caught my head falling down while I was writing notes. >_<). There was a demo of working on the spectometer and I was right behind Ms. Gina while she was working on the computer and the instrument so I had a pretty good view of everything she tweaked. We'll probably use the spectrometer in March. :)

I was able to go home (finally!) around 7:30pm but the travel time took me around 40 minutes. Right now I'm feeling soooo tired. I've been awake since 5:30am and I haven't tried to rest because I still have this paper to finish for tomorrow. And I think I caught the virus that Mam Ais was talking about. Oh.. I hope not. I can't afford to be sick. I still have a lot of work to do! T_T

Maybe I'll sleep for a while... Kuya wants to use the pc and I could ask him to wake me up when he's finished. =_=