My fascination with overload

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Written on 9:49 PM by DRV

"How do you do it?"

I've been asked that question ever since I first got involved with extracurricular activities. I think my fascination with being busy should finally be addressed. Does that mean people will understand where I'm getting at? Well, let's hope so. But here we are.

In high school, I just didn't like being home. When all you have at home is a GameCube, a TV with basic basic cable, and a computer that has dialup internet access, that's the last place you want to stay. So I got involved with football my first half of high school, and then I discovered Mabuhay. Two people worked hard at recruiting me -- Austin and Sherilyn. Well, I hope you're happy. I helped turn the organization into the most active cultural club in the East Side Union High District.

But that's besides the point. Aside from Mabuhay, I took almost all AP classes while also being a very active member of the Class of 2007. I'm a spirited person. I'm also especially competitive when it comes to getting something I want. With practices for Powderpuff Cheerleading, Airband, the 12 Days of X-Mas skits, very rarely did I have a day that was all to myself. I mean, when I'm at home, I'm playing video games that require me to review them. While you think it ruins the fun of the gameplay, I'd beg to differ. I love writing.

But yeah, that's high school. I'm in college now. Why am I taking a full load of 18 units, have two jobs, and take over one of the vacant Community Affairs Chairs (one of the especially difficult positions) in Akbayan?

The 18 Units
You guys can thank Camille. In the fall semester, I failed a MATH 8 course and I put myself through academic renewal? I was telling ate that I just wanted to take some other math. And she was like, "No, just get red of it now." So I took her advice, and it was the best advice ever. My GPA raised by a full point the semester in which I first took 18. And yes, that was with PCN on my belt.

I take 18 units a semester because this is what we're paying for. Sorry, but those of you who are taking 12 units must have a lack of confidence. That costs the same as people who are taking 18. If you're going to pay so much for college, you really might as well milk the school for all that you can get.

The Two Jobs
I need money. But besides, this is only one job--technically. Spartan Shops only holds customers temporarily, so it wouldn't surprise me if I was let go tomorrow. H&M will be my first mall job though. It's really exciting, but at the same time, I'm pretty skeptical because a lot of people (especially people I know) have been quitting their jobs due to changes in management. But yeah. I need money. A new phone and a Zune would be nice... some Wii remotes. But yeah, the money is mostly for leisure recreation. I hate owing people money. This would lessen that pain.

--

So basically, I just can't handle not being busy. Time moves slower, and nothing is enjoyable when you have too much free time. I mean come on... I failed a class in the fall because I wasn't busy.

My first day of school. (Pt. II)

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Written on 8:44 PM by DRV

This is the second and final part of the "My first day of school" for this semester. This edition will talk about my Tuesday/Thursday classes.

Aside from the usual routine of getting up early and going to work at the Spartan Bookstore, I'll go straight into the school day. Tabling was pretty fun, and I'm glad to say I'm really starting to enjoy it. Tabling just doesn't have the same boring vibe it did when I was an intern for the organization. Seeing the interested looks on people's faces when you talk about the organization is really a pleasurable sight.

Now for class. I start the day at 12PM with AAS 33A. Arlyn, Brian, Mariel, and Troy are all in my class. Throughout the whole time, I just whisper wisecracks. But it's all good. I know I'm gonna pass. Call me cocky, but I don't expect any challenge here at all. Habal is a good teacher, and Choi shouldn't be an excruciating challenge.

My next class is a little bit more on the boring side, it's COMM 41 - Critical Thinking. It involves a lot of debate-style vocabulary in conjecture with thinking on the spot. I don't expect to fail this either.

I end the day with AAS 125 -- Filipino Experience. The funny thing about this class is that half of the people in it are members of Akbayan. That pretty much makes it so nobody can possibly fail. If one person fails, we pretty much failed at "Embracing in Friendship."

All that being said, if I can juggle everything I want to juggle properly... these are the grades I'm expecting:

TA 5 - B
ENGL 71 - A
BIOL 21 - C
AAS 33A - A
COMM 41 - A
AAS 125 - B+

I'm realistic, foo.

First Day of School. Pt. 1

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Written on 7:51 PM by DRV

This is the first part to a two-part blog. Why? Because in college, unless you do it on purpose, you never have all your classes in one day, especially as a sophomore. To say the least, my day was pretty interesting.

I got up at 5:55 AM and took a shower. After I got out, I dozed off in my underwear just staring at the clock. To add insult to injury, I never actually packed my school supplies. But hey, I was just recovering from a 54-hour work week in which I worked seven straight days. You gotta cut me some slack. When I came to my senses, I realized I had a leftover burrito in the fridge, so I took that out and heated up and went over to the bus stop. Upon arriving there, I was relieved to see that there were people waiting. Unless I'm on the way home, I don't like being alone on a bus stop, because that usually constitutes a long wait.

So I went to my locker near the Spartan Bookstore and put on my Bookstore T-Shirt which we were forced to wear. Then I did the usual internet processing stuff. For some reason, a lot of the managers were monitoring me... I don't know why, but it made me feel uncomfortable--not to mention I had a separate Gmail window open, but hey--what's wrong with keeping your e-mail open? All professionals in the office do that. Hopefully this doesn't constitute browsing the internet and leads me to a writeup. That would be bull. But to be honest, I don't really care. I mean, I'm a temp. They're gonna get rid of me in mid-September anyway, so in other words, I'll be on the market.

I clocked out at 9:30 and went to table with Akbayan. The trifold was pretty darn nice, and our spinwheel was working, and it seemed to be effective in bringing people to our table. I think I did a fair job, recruiting around seven people within that hour. It's also good to be around a lot of Akbayan again. They've really made college a much better experience for me. We haven't gotten anywhere near the hard stuff that's coming up, but man, I'm glad to be back with them. But still, I'm dreading November. My passdown was fairly weak.

Anyway, after despositing a check my mom wrote me for textbooks, the first class of the day was TA 5 -- Acting. As soon as I walked in, it smell liked body odor, but I guess I gotta live with that. I found that I'm also taking the course with Justin Arce and Matt Baltar, so I'm pretty sure I'll be having some fun here. The instructor doesn't look too difficult. It's just that I won't be able to show late to this class... which is unfortunate, due to my recent hiring at H&M.

My next class of the day was ENGL 71 -- Creative Writing. Professor James is crazy. He looks like the next Mr. Warren for me. I totally see myself having loads of fun in this class. The only problem is that we're learning multiple forms of poetry. I hate poetry. But yeah, I don't know anybody in this class, unfortunately.

On Mondays, like today, I have a big gap that lasts until 4:30. I originally intended to go back to work, but heh... an hour of work is only $8. Forget that. So I hung around the table, and I actually had my lunch. Quesadilla. Yum. After that, I looked for the book I needed for ENGL 71 with no success and headed to my BIOL 21 -- Human Biology class.

To be frank, I hate math and science. I hate everything that has to do with math and science, and to make matters worse, this class is 2 hours long. The professor, Poffenroth, really isn't that bad though, and she makes fun of the content sometimes, which is always a good thing. But either way, by far, this looks like my most stressful class.

I headed to Beat the Bookstore hoping to buy a Clicker, but it was closed. Why the hell did they close so early? It's the first day of school! Whatever.

Anyway, that was my day. I was supposed to be doing a Fantasy Draft today, but Cabebe didn't get enough heads involved. But yeah, that's all.

I'll have another tomorrow.

The Brett Favre Fiasco.

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Written on 5:32 PM by DRV

Everyone seems to want my opinion on this matter. Yes, I'm a Brett Favre fan... but I'm not one of those bandwagon hoppers. I'm a Packers fan before anything else, so yes, I agree with the way the Packers are going about with this.

I was pretty emotional when Brett retired on March 4th. I didn't pay attention in any of my classes, and instead, I watched Favre Tribute videos the entire week. I understand a lot of big name players, such as Michael Jordan and the late great Reggie White have gone in and out of retirement, but I truly thought Brett was going to leave--even after ending his career with an interception.

I haven't heard anything from the horse's mouth regarding him telling Coach McCarthy that he wanted back in at the end of March. If that were the case, I'd be insanely happy. Instead, we hear reports that he went back on that decision and decided to stay retired. If Brett was going to come back, that would've been a good time.

Amidst reports that the Packers offered a contract to Daunte Culpepper, who ultimately refused to sign with us, the draft came. The Packers drafted Brian Brohm, who many including myself believed was the best QB available in the NFL Draft and Matt Flynn--a very underrated prospect from the draft class. With two rookies and Aaron Rodgers, it's pretty clear that Brett Favre is in the past.

Now Brett develops an itch to play again, and he starts conditioning with high school kids. Now he's in shape again, and he's ready to play football. He wants to play for the Packers, but guess what? It's too late, Brett.

"But Brett gives the Packers the best chance to win NOW." That's true. I'm not denying that.
The guy almost earned his 4th MVP award last year, and he very well could have if Tom Brady didn't throw 50 TD's--23 of which went to Randy Moss, who considered going to Green Bay. If Favre had Moss, he very well could've thrown 53 touchdowns. But it's not about that. What matters is the Packers have to move on. Rodgers has a great core around him, and with only two years left on his contract, it would be a bad investment by Ted Thompson to not go with his first pick as General Manager.

Brett acknowledged that he made the mistake of retiring too early. ALL OF US KNEW IT WAS A MISTAKE. But what's done is done. The man retired. He said he left his team on good terms, and now he's blaming Ted Thompson and the Packers Organization for pressuring him to retire. Sorry, but a Hall of Fame QB like Brett Favre shouldn't feel that kind of pressure. It was a few years ago where Brett told the Packers he'd come back, and it was only a week before the draft. Favre should've just taken more time to make a decision... not retire and then come back out of nowhere. This means the NFL Network and ESPN wasted good time and money airing all these Favre tributes.

I'll end it by saying I'm a Packers fan. If Brett comes back and rides the bench, so be it. If Brett comes back as the starter, fine. If that pisses Aaron Rodgers off to the point where he won't want a new contract with us--then that shows that the guy has no patience and shouldn't be in the league anyway. There's always Brian Brohm. I don't care if my quarterback is Favre, A-Rod, or Brohm. The Packers are a good team, and it won't matter who they have at Quarterback. They WILL succeed.

I mean, if you can put the Minnesota Vikings on a pedestal while all they have at quarterback is Tarvaris Jackson and John David Booty, I like Green Bay's chances.

Tagged. The Game.

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Written on 5:31 PM by DRV

TAGGED: THE GAME

Once you've been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird and random facts, habits or goals about yourself.

At the end choose 10 people to be tagged, list their names & why you tagged them.

Don't forget to leave them a comment saying that, "You're it!" & to read your blog.

You cannot tag the person that tagged you so let them know when you are done so they can go read your blog answers.


1.) I have a dark side.
No, it has nothing to do with my skin color. I'm a good person, but oftentimes, I overthink things. As much as we all hate drama, we know it's always aroud us. Oftentimes I think of what people say behind my back, and I sometimes use that to build a shield around myself. That leads me to sometimes being harsh to people. The bottom line is... you play with someone as fiery as I am, and I guarantee you will suffer burns both mental and physical. Yes, I hold grudges, and unfortunately--I tend to think the world revolves around me, that's something I want to change about myself.

2.) I've never gotten with a full-blooded Pinay.
Yep, even though I'm Filipino, it's true. I've dated two girls... one was half Filipina, half white; the other was half Filipina, half Vietnamese. I'll just say I have a soft spot for the lighter colored, or pale, girls.

3.) Since we're on that subject, technically, I've never had a "real" girlfriend.
Yeah, I know--I've had two, and both those girls were gorgeous. But come on, does being an 8th grader dating high school freshmen mean anything? Those don't count. So yeah, technically--I've never had a real one. Oh yeah, for kicks--I don't count flings. Flings can be had anytime.

4.) I'm a different kind of overachiever.
High school and college students usually classify overachievers as people who do nothing but work and schoolwork. While I do do those things, I'm different. I like to be extremely busy. Take my current pot for instance. Right now, I'm a Journalism student at San Jose State taking 18 units. (That's maximum for those who don't ask for the Excess Units form). It's like academic suicide, but uhhh... No. In addition to those 18 units, I'm also one of Akbayan's Community Affairs chairs. It's actually one of the hardest positions on cabinet because it forces you to get along with people, network well, have a knack for organization, team building, build and maintain awareness around the community, to the ability to get people to get involved... it's a lot of stuff. Hmm... what else. Ah, yes. I'm also an Associate Editor at Gamer 2.0, the fastest growing independent gaming site. We're currently having plans of making a HUGE update, and I'm sure people will like it. There's more to what I do, but I'll go into it later. The main thing you should know is that whenever I get into something--my passion knows no limits.

5.) In middle school, I was Student of the Month twice, but the second time... I didn't show up.
Why? I had diherria. Really embarrassing. A lot of people called me after school with the good news and... LOL.

6.) I don't seem to have a distinct fashion style... or at least, I don't think so.
I'm the prime definition of someone who really doesn't go with the times. I mean, you'd walk around everywhere, and you can really see that people are one with their clothes. You have the girls in that "too sexy for its own good" Abercrombie stuff, and you have the guys in their "OMG why are you wearing those" skinny jeans. Seriously, I just wear shit that matches. I don't care about brand. Well, actually... if I were to choose any brand to rock every day, it would be Timberland. It's not a "name-brand" per say, but you know... their stuff is really rugged and durable. That's what I like to think I am... rugged and durable. I will rock Packers gear and Filipino hats though. Hell, I'll even dawn the Blue Leopard... just kidding.

7.) I have a leg fetish.
(A LEG FETISH IS NOT A FOOT FETISH. I REPEAT: A LEG FETISH IS NOT A FOOT FETISH!!!) It's probably something you wouldn't wanna hear, but that's just how I do. I don't know what influenced me to like them so much. I think it was Stacy Keibler from the WWE. Actually, yeah. I'm pretty sure it was Stacy Keibler. In fact, it was wrestling that helped me go through puberty. I'm sure it helped a lot of guys. I mean, come on. Trish Stratus anyone? But yeah, DRV is a leg lover. Ladies, if you're wearing shorts or skirts... sorry, but I might be checking you out. It doesn't mean anything though. But hey, when girls look nice, one would only assume that they want to get noticed. It should, uhh.... raise self-esteem.

8.) The Green Bay Packers are my second life.
Sorry, while I do a lot of important things... I am just submersed with Packer Football. I would give anything to see the Lombardi Trophy come back to Green Bay. To those who wonder why I'm a Packer fan, I don't really know. I think it's because I liked Tommy the Green Ranger, and that influenced me to like the Packers... not to mention, Brett Favre ALWAYS kicked Niner ass. There is SOME Bay Area love, though! If I were forced to pick a Bay Area NFL team, or face death--I'd pick the Niners. Sorry, but most Raiders fans come across to me as stupid people. I bet half those idiots can't spell their quarterback's name right.

9.) I only drive on weekends.
Unfortunately, I don't own a car. My dad always takes it to work with him. I don't mind though... I have cool friends... and my EcoPass. Seriously, SJSU students don't realize what they have. While gas is expensive, public transportation is expensive too, and the EcoPass allows that second option to be free... anytime. Those who aren't into it end up being fatter than me. lol

10.) My confidence knows no bounds.
Yep, I have the infamous "Yes I can!!!" attitude. I seriously think I can do anything, as long as I'm in the right frame of mind. Examples include my first and second PCN. I was an emcee, a major character, a lead dancer, and a choir member for both shows. PCN's are known for hectic crap, and I pulled it off. Also, I earned one of 3 IBM Internships that Independence gives worthy students. When it comes down to something I know I can do... I always think I can come out on top. Sometimes it's a bad thing... oftentimes, it just works. That's me. "That's how I do." Heh, that was actually my catchphrase junior year.


Thinking of ten things is hard. And then sometimes, limiting yourself to ten things is hard. This was really fun though.


I Tag:
Antonette Bajet -- Because she was the only one who did this one deep survey with me two years ago.

Jeff Agustin -- Because he's the oldest person who does these kinds of things I know.

Arlyn Pascua -- Because she's probably not doing anything because her parents won't let her.

Chris Roque -- Because he's the most random person I know.

A-Jay Nicolas -- Because he's taught me a lot, and I would like to know more about him... other than he's a passionate person who can kick by ass at Elite Beat Agents.

Christine Abriam -- Because she blogs more than anybody I know and uses the wonderful DISCLAIMER.

Kevin Irabagon -- He probably won't do this because he doesn't like long things. "That's what she said." But he has a lot of random stuff going on, too.

Angelica Cortez -- She's away on vacation to Hawaii, but this would be a cool way to get to know my wonderful Co.

Jennifer Pimentel -- Because she completes me. LOL.

Chau Ngo -- Because I'm right a lot, and she's wrong a lot... but she somehow ended up being a valedictorian. Just kidding, you know I love you, Chau.

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