Finished The Gathering Storm.

Brandon Sarandon brought to the table what we found lacking with Robert Jordan: fast pacing.
Reading this one wasn't too much of a chore unlike the 3 books prior to this one where you find yourself groaning at a new plot twist or sidetrack to a main story branch. I did find myself wondering what is happening in the other branches. I'm really excited to read the Moiraine-Thom-Mat branch in the next books. And I'm very happy that Rand finally gets over his emo/steel/cuendillar phase.

I wish someone will give me the next book for my birthday. =)

Now to look for booksale copies of Asimov's Foundation novels.

We are going to present our report to our big bosses tomorrow. Right. No worries. Right?

But seriously, I really like the job. I wish I could defer my med school so I could work for the project.

However, looks like I won't be taking the med tech boards this year. I really don't have time to review.

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OMG! They're putting taxes on imported books! Sh*t! Looks like my imposed limit of buying only Php500 books will have to end.

That's really stupid though. Unless they are trying to promote reading of locally produced books which aren't that many. It's still stupid though because not all good books are published here. And what about our reference books? Those brick like books which could kill people? Not all are published here and they're already freakin' expensive. Shit you!

Finished reading Hunters of Dune. So much for studying for my test tomorrow. It's okay I guess. Not as philosophical as the other Dune novels(or maybe I should call them the real Dune novels). What I like is how fast the narrative is as compared to the other novels and how you have at least an inkling of what is happening and what is going to happen. Then again, I am using God Emperor of Dune as the reference novel. To the uninitiated, God Emperor, is the fourth novel of the series. It is the is most philosophical and has the slowest plot among the lot. I guess Frank Herbert really wanted to create a philosophy book but ended up writing fiction.

What I don't like is that the "chapter titles"(or the quotes from various characters and books of the Dune universe) tell too much about the chapter. The past novels are really great in making you think about what the relationship of the quote and the chapter is. I guess I just missed that pleasurable aspect of the Dune novels. And the book reads too easily. I expect that the Dune novels be trials in themselves. I recall frequently going to skim mode while reading God Emperor and Dune Messiah and then rereading a passage because I ended up not knowing what is happening.

Anyway, I look forward to reading the last book, Sandworms of Dune. I hear it sucks but I'm already a fanatic so whether it be good or bad, I am going to read it.

I'm getting grade-conscious again. It is not a bad thing in itself since students should really be conscious of their grades because it is somewhat a good measure if you are learning something or not. It is the ultra-competitive/every-one-is-my-enemy attitude that is bad. I've somehow learned to control it in high school and I wasn't really aiming for anything high during that time, I was happy to land any where but this time it's different.

I guess I should remember that my only competition is myself. As crappy and cliche as it is, it is true especially with the grading system of my school. I've decided way back that getting a grade of 2.0 and higher(meaning 2.25, 3, etc) is bad since it means I learned and mastered only 80%(or less) of the subject matter or at the very least, it will be perceived that way. The real reasons why I took the final exam in Chem 31 because I feel that I should test my true knowledge in Organic Chemistry and really get the grade I feel I truly deserve.

The point is this week I'm getting annoyed by the grades of other people and have begun monitoring the grades of other people as well. Why the fuck should I care if other people get higher grades than I do?! Based on my philosophy, I shouldn't , right? But I am caring and it really sucks. I guess it is the just end of the semester jitters because everybody is able to and computing their grades already. And if I want this to stop, I just have to will it to stop.

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Happy Banned Books Week Everybody! Too bad I'm stuck with the textbooks for this week(and the next one) so I'd probably not be able to join the uh... festivities.

FUCK!

Robert Jordan is dead!

This is so sad.

It feels as if the wheel of time has encountered a bump on the road, no a pot hole.

And the really big question: What will happen to the WoT series?

Apparently, like what happened to the Dune series; it'll get published, co-authored. Still as one commenter said, "I know I'm being selfish but it won't be the same." Damn right! Damn right...

If there is such a thing as an afterlife, I hope RJ is happy there.

If there isn't, I don't know what to wish for.

Too late to say goodbye, too early to say hi.

I just finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Yey! I got my copy 10 minutes earlier than expected. The book store was supposed to open by 7 am but they didn't, they were open by 6:45am! Yey! I didn't start reading there anyway. I started reading at around 7:30am and finished at around 3:15pm. It was good. The Mugglenet people did a very good job predicting some of the things that would appear in this book like the psyche of Snape and the plans of Dumbledore but the novel contains much more that I didn't encounter in the essays that I have read and I do not think any thought of it. Any way, I was not entirely happy with the romantic pairings at the end and JKR forgot to mention Luna in the last chapter. Maybe we could ask her to post the story of Luna in her website or blog.

As for my future reading material, I just hope the last Wheel of Time book gets finished before Robert Jordan dies. In the mean time, I'll be sinking my nose into my textbooks. This sem has really been harsh on my reading time.

Nakabili na ako ng notebook. Hah! May notebook of everything na ako! Gusto ko sana nang magaganda-gandang notebook pero wala na akong makita. Hindi iyong itsura sa labas. Lumalayo pa nga ako kapag nakakakita ako ng kung anu-anong design eh. Hanap ko ay plain na color o kaya pattern o kung may design man ay hindi dapat related sa kung anu mang cartoon. Pero ang hanap ko talaga ay magandang papel. Mayroon namang mga notebook dyan na maganda ang papel tulad ng Green Apple at Cattleya pero mahal ang mga iyon kaya hindi ko binibili. Ang aking gamit last sem ay Avanti! na notebook. Matino na ang papel at mura pa.

Iyon ang hinanap ko sa National pero wala silang plain na Avanti. Nakakagulat nga kasi sa dami ng notebook na tinda nila ay wala akong mapili. Mamaya-maya may napansin akong isang Starnotes notebook na may picture ng Panda. Sabi ko pwede na siguro ito kung wala talaga akong makitang may solid color na cover pero nang siniyasat ko na ay nakita ko na pangit ang papel. Medyo manipis at hindi ata maganda ang ganito lalo na't madiin ako magsulat at mahilig ako sa matintang mga ballpen. Ibababa ko na sana ang notebook at aalis na ako nang napansin ko na parang baligtad ata ang cover. Aba! Left-handed notebook pala ito! At kung sisiyasatin mo ang mga katabi niya ay malalaman mong iyon lang ang left-handed notebook. Destiny na ata ito(kunwari naniniwala ako sa destiny) kaya binili ko na!

Hindi naman ako nagsisisi sa aking binili kasi mura naman siya at pang-left-handed nga! Hindi pa ako nakakagamit ng ganitong notebook. Tutal wala rin naman gaanong epekto dahil ang ginagawa ko ay maraming subjects sa isang notebook at nagsisimula ako magsulat sa parehas na dulo. Kapag nakuhanan ko na nang picture i-po-post ko dito.

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Hindi na ako gumawa ng ipapasa ko para sa Public Herald. Hindi ko maayos ang aking mga iniisip. Parang kapag ginagawa sa utak ang isusulat ko ay humahaba ng humahaba at napapalayo ako sa topic. Tsaka parang ang daming isyu bigla na naisip ko tungkol sa UP at epektibo nga ba ang UP na ipasok sa utak ng mga Isko at Iska ang magandang paraan ng pagkatuto o ang aking mga sariling karanasan, labas sa kolehiyo, ang tumutulong sa aking matututo kung paano mag-aral at matuto. Tsaka parang nagiging hambog ako at nagiging masyadong makasarili bigla ang nagagawa ko. Medyo hambog nga ako pero hindi na dapat lumabas iyon sa aking ipapasa. Tapos iyong ibang parte parang nagiging lecture na imbes na pagkwekwento ng mga karanasan. Siguro sa isang taon na lang at nagiging toxic na rin naman ang buhay hindi ko na muna siguro dadagdagan.

Maybe after finishing the Dune Series and the Harry Potter series, I should start tackling Tolkien. Yes, I already know the main story( the good guys win, bad guy/s lose) but I am intrigued by the series because of the number of Tolkien fanatics out there. Hey! These curiosity is what led to my being a WoT and Dune fan(not yet a fanatic; when you see me cosplaying as a Mydraal or a Suk Doctor, I'll be a fanatic) Besides, the last book for the Wheel of Time is set to be at the shelves by 2008. Assuming of course that I do not get buried under textbooks in the coming academic year, I need to find another series to read. Or maybe I should start reading General Fiction again. Those best-selling novels are tempting me with their very beautiful book covers. I know I shouldn't judge a book by its cover but if that were always the case, making cover art wouldn't become such a nice business. Neil Gaiman seems nice but his books are too expensive. Compare the near 1000 leaves of a Wheel of Time book to his novel with 300 leaves and the Gaiman book manages to be more expensive. Normally, I would dismiss Gaiman and call him an overrated author but I have read one of his "kiddie" books and it was great! But I shouldn't be thinking about these books right now because I still do not know how I would manage to buy the needed textbooks for the next semester. This semester will be learning things we'd actually apply in our lives(as public health workers)!

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Sabi ko sa inyo para akong babae kapag nag-e-english eh! Naisip ko lang kasi na kung gusto ko magkaroon ng mga mambabasa kailangan ko na uli mag-blog gamit ang wikang Ingles. Hindi ko naman gusto ng mga fans o kung anu man. Gusto ko lang na may maka-diskusyon ako paminsan-minsan. Weird! Eh kapag nasa mga ORPG nga ako ay ang taray-taray ko tapos ngayon gusto ko ng kausap. Hehehe.

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New links and blogs! Visit them! I recommend Dream Anatomy in the links section and Science blogs in the blogs section. And no, it's not just about science. If you like reading about the Creationism controversy, this would be a good place to be and if you know nothing about it, it would be a good place to start. On second thought, the Simpsons would be a better one(start with the Angel discovery then to the Ban on Evolution). Seriously though, Creationists need to have their heads whacked a bit with a hardbound copy of the Bible.

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I've learned about RSS yesterday. You should try it! Click here to learn more. After you set-up your reader, try subscribing to my blog. Heh. Shameless promotion! Most of the blogs in blogger do not show their subscribe buttons/links but could be easily fixed by typing in the adress box: + feeds/posts/default. ex. http://purpolkurtina.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default. That will lead to the subscription set-up page.

Ubos na ang Gard shampoo namin! Kasi naman parang toot iyong mga tao, pinapabayaang nakabukas tapos nakataob pa, kumusta ka naman! So, inaatake ako ngayon ng balakubak. Walang kwenta ang Head&Shoulders sa akin, pati iyong mga pa-anti-dandruff shampoo dyan, walang kwenta. Ang nakakatulong lang sa akin ay Gard at Nizoral kaya lang wala akong pasensya gamitin ang Nizoral, at medyo masakit sa anit.

Kakagaling ko lang sa Warehouse sale ng Powerbooks. Warehouse nga talaga, sobrang init. Hindi ko nakita ang mga gusto ko makita pero bumili pa rin ako ng 5 murang mga libro(49-149 Php). May nakita akong librong parang nakakaaliw, inaatake nila si Michael Moore(Farenheit, Bowling for Columbine). Hindi ko binili kasi wala na akong pera pero kung babalik man kami doon baka bilhin ko na rin. Medyo ad hominem at tu quoque(uy... ano kaya iyon?) ang libro pero may mga parts rin naman na logical.

Tag-init na talaga dito. Nalalanta ang katawan ko kahit maglakad lang sa may Faura, pag-akyat nga lang sa CAS eh pawis na. Tapos mag-che-chem lab pa kami sa walang ventilation na lab ng CAS! Pano ba naman gagana utak namin sa ganoong sitwasyon, di ba?

Kailangan ko na talaga seryosohin ang ilang bagay-bagay. Nakakahiya kapag hindi pa inayos pero kaya ito.