Mesmerize

THESE. These are the thinking songs to listen to, especially when one is doing heaps of research papers. And the reasons why one can't simply and completely outgrow anime.

"That's what you get for having an MS in your name!"

THAT was what R told me a couple of days ago, after I randomly vented out the anxiety of gradually being sort of "in-charge" of the Peer-group-youth paper and how it felt wrong not to feel stressed about it.

It's not like I want to back out (yeah, like stubborn me would do that) but the pressures of producing grade A paper worth publishing by the 7th of next month can get to me. I have encountered two arguments that should supposedly make this task simple. First, the deadline, which is still days away--so why worry? Second, I have two other members to slavedrive, I mean, help me. It shouldn't be hard.

My rebuttal for those two would go something like this. First, this is not just some course requirement that we can wing in a day and still get above decent grade. This is for a PUBLICATION, where even experienced writers can get rejected and where a noob like myself have experienced many, MANY times. The thing is, it's not just about writing but actually thinking of WHAT to write and PLANNING how to make that happen...and that takes time. Second, I have the best group members in P-chan and N-kun, but they do have other lives too, the former being the medstudent (who I think trully deserves this school break) and the latter an incredibly serious grad student who's about to take the comps and do a thesis proposal. Those clearly spell out how much they can contribute in the long run, not because they are inefficient but because I really understand where their priorities are coming from.

So that leaves me with recruiting a new member (she has an M.S. also, maybe that should help : ) that needs orientation about the whole thing; I have no access to the school's online journal articles because I assume part-timers only get a full term's access, possibly delaying the actual writing until school opens. Wah, Google Scholar, please don't fail me now.

I'm going to meet my team now, and hopefully I don't lose my voice--this sore throat just became a tad bit nastier. Maybe my M.S. can work some magic around this whole thing, too.

Writeshop Day 2

Today wasn’t much of a nosebleed compared to yesterday, maybe because I was able to go through the remaining activities pretty easily. Of course, there were lapses on my paper that still need revising; I suppose I had a hard time yesterday because it basically reflected my dilemma about the Introduction section even before I submitted it. Seriously, I was at a lost on how to collapse my entire literature review and choose which are relevant or not. Now, I know better.

What’s groundbreaking today is that we all have our journal article outlines and it’s somehow etched in stone—WE WILL PUBLISH THIS and Doc B is looking forward to seeing our names printed in ISI journals. Doc SM kidded that since Doc B did the workshop for free, it would be a shame on our part if we never publish. I’m excited to work on my paper (yeah, yeah, the Peer Group Youth research, too…) but at the same time, I get a bit anxious thinking that maybe I can tweak it some more so that I won’t be selling my ENTIRE thesis into just one publication. It would be great if I can squeeze out maybe 3 articles from my thesis and more importantly, I get around to actually doing it.

And there’s the youth research paper. The department just made a commitment to Doc B that we will turn in 7 papers from each group by January of next year. That means crunch time during December.

Yeah, baby.

Writeshop Day 1

So the highly anticipated writeshop finally arrived and the department was very honored to have Doc B as speaker. He was gracious enough to do the writeshop for free and personally, I would not pass a chance to learn something from this man.

*GEEK MODE ON*

It's been a really long time since I attended a serious lecture of Doc B so I forgot how engaging he was during discussion that the next thing I knew was..."Oh, sh!t! I didn't get to take notes!"

Among the JTRAPS, only R, P and I attended; P and I were getting into the whole journal publication thing most of the time, where quantitative sounded Greek to me (I'm a quali person) while P had the need to hold onto something concrete when qualitative was being discussed (he's a quanti person) while R was rather subtly restless since she's not into research at all.

The actual workshop for today was a minor nosebleed, but NOSEBLEED nonetheless. Simply put, the challenge was to consistently promote our research contribution while establishing a good write up flow with a target of 4,000 words maximum. No, it is not that easy.

I'd be lying if I say that I didn't enjoy this session. I enjoy this kind of stuff even if I am a bit slow in coming up with what I should write, compared with the others in the department. And if we have to actually write a manuscript, my Zen Stone Plus is ready for action with Gundam 00 and Macross Frontier mp3s as thinking music! Tomorrow's Day 2--let's see what's in store for the Green Psychologists.

Random

JPOP: Out of curiosity, I watched Macross Frontier. Even if the Macross saga received raves ever since, I was never a fan of it—simply because singing female pop idols facilitating a space battle just isn’t my cup of tea. Sure, they make GREAT background music during the fight scenes and that’s exactly what I had to—pretend that it’s just BGM. I guess I’d take it more seriously if it’s just the mecha (maybe that’s why I’m more interested in Macross Zero…), but the equation of Macross is always Mecha + Music so if I can’t live with one, I guess I’ll never be a Macross fan. Anyway, the fight scenes in the last episode of MF were incredible (again, I am speaking as if the essence of the pop idols’ singing is irrelevant to the plot and is merely BGM to pump the fight scenes), and dare I say BETTER than Gundam. INCREDIBLE ANIMATION—so good that it’s enough to make one wonder what it’s like to fly one of those Valkyrie thingies ^o^. The plot is relatively simple and if I cared a little, I might’ve taken the effort to fully understand what it’s about—but definitely not head-splitting like Gundam (or Evangelion—head AND soul-splitting!). What else…there’s a love triangle here—the lead pilot dude and the two female pop idols. Surprisingly, I don’t hate the triangle (but I don’t favor any either). It’s open ended as to who ends up with whom but I don’t really care…I was amused that the creators actually have a rationale in making the lead guy very androgynous (typical “bishounen”)—smart of them to say he came from a Kabuki-oriented family, there goes your excuse! LOL! Conclusion...YAY for GUNDAM 00 Season 2! ^___^

RESEARCH: Of course, marathoning MF through online streaming meant that my PC will be occupied for a long time so I took this opportunity to go through my Youth Research literature. I ACTUALLY TOOK NOTES AND WENT THROUGH 15 OF MY 19 RRL!!! Now THAT is mixing business with pleasure. Unfortunately, I’m not yet done. The last ones were incredibly high in content that I have to decide how to go about the note taking. I will finish it this week. Yeah! *fistpumps*

SNIPERS: If I recall correctly, I have a thing for characters who play snipers (or anything long-ranging shooting skill—including in basketball where I’d choose a 3-point shot over a slam dunk any day). I just have a teeny weeny bit of a complaint…WHY THE HELL DO THEY ALWAYS GET KILLED?!?!? It happened in G00, FMP and MF! Darn it.

YUMMY: I remember Vivi (who’s in NZ now) always likened my types of guys in the looks department as “boylets”. Well, I doubt THIS DUDE will be classified as one. Yay, someone finally joined Eric Bana in the rugged look category—go Diego Buñuel! I won’t tell your mother you went to *bleep!* ^o^.

In Current News…

TENNIS: I finally broke the strings of my racquet. I had it replaced the same day, accompanied by some uneasy feelings of what happened in Toby’s Megamall. I purchased two things separately using two different credit cards because the attendant told me that only I swipe per card is allowed in establishments. I haven’t heard of this rule but instead of asking the cashier, I simply did what she suggested. On hindsight, I thought I felt kind of duped…and stupid. I mean, when I was eating at Sushiya, I asked the manager if that rule apply to them, and they said no. I even had my mother call me up to ask her…the OC-ness really hit me and I hated the feeling that I wasn’t assertive enough to ask. I mean, it wouldn’t hurt and it wouldn’t really cost me anything. Of course, I allowed myself to become paranoid and thought that it could be a scam or something. Argh. Why was it that I didn’t see them rare 4 pieces Slazenger tennis balls were available and on sale. Lesson learned: ASK, IT WONT’ HURT. On other news, I intend to break in the new strings…I experimented on the tension, I wonder what 60kg feels like.

RESEARCH: Last week was the brainstorming of our Department collaborated research on Youth Development. I’m glad I went but on the side, I felt a little disappointed at myself that these guys came up with really good theoretical frameworks which made mine look preschool-ish in comparison. It then came with a feeling that I can’t seem to feel the expertise I supposedly have achieved now that I have a Master’s Degree in Human Development Psychology. I teach, but the expertise I gain is that of teaching—how to wing things and still have the goals attained. I’m beginning to feel that maybe unconsciously I’m getting bored with my current state because it’s so monotonous that I can even risk not preparing for work because I know how to handle it when it all comes down to the actual thing. Maybe this is a sign that I need something new…something more challenging. Something that will motivate me to move.

JPOP: Thanks to Ohmer’s dvd, I saw the spinoff movie of Deathnote (L: Change the World). It was okay; it’s not something I would buy nor download but it was nice to see L and his eccentric ways. The whole idea of the antagonists were simply flawed and really, had they further developed the idea of why there is a need to use bioterrorism on people and not just “because we are overpopulated and abuse nature” (a big “HUH?”), it would’ve really made the film more exciting. And much as I like seeing L, he doesn’t seem to be so much himself in this movie…I mean, I missed his shrewdness in the first two films (as well as portrayed in the manga) and in here, he’s…not as proactive as I want him to be ^^(). But there were ‘Awww…” moments for sure =3

Destination Davao: Ready, Steady, GO!!! (Part 2 of ?)

Conventions are usually good sources of new knowledge about whatever field an individual engages himself or herself with. I’m sure each of my colleagues had achieved some kind of learning as a result of this convention experience. Of course, not wanting to lag behind, I, too declare that I have learned something impeccable in this convention…

NEVER.CRAM.YOUR.PRESENTATION. E-V-E-R.

No matter how busy you are or how sick you are, do something about your presentation—and I don’t mean just the slide presentation but the ENTIRE content.

Gist: Our presentation is a part of the symposium on youth research, and me and my former students (let’s call them N and P) were supposed to work on “peer groups and the youth”, a.k.a “The Barkada”. Because P was busy killing herself to get a M.D.-M.B.A degree, N and I were left to take care of things. Well, how that turned out was, as I’ve said, was something I’ll never ever do again. N and I spent the first day of the convention creating the content (don’t you just hate it when after a rush of brilliant ideas, none of you bothered to take note about it and afterwards, none can remember what each other said? >_<) and the morning of next day, polishing the slide presentation. Yes, our “boss”, DSM, knew what we were up to (...wait—what?? SHE KNEW?!? O_o). In the end, our presentation went fine, we (actually, I) did go over the time limit but all was good, I think.

So kiddies, the lesson here is when you see the other big kids preparing for a presentation DAYS BEFORE the actual event, it’s best that you do the same, lest you want the convention to literally breeze through without you knowing it.

Um, right…on to the pics. There’s not much (and you know why).

Day 1 of the convention. Upper left panel had to the 5 of us making a fool out of ourselves before sporting a "professional" front at the convention proper. The upper right is us getting acquainted with our first snack meal (some of which I would miss due to cramming T_T but I was determined to get the bigger meals! Hell, I’ll be missing most of the lectures—there’s not way I’m giving my food away ; ). There’s a new addition to our whacky fivesome and that’s the one beside P—let’s call her R. The lower left pic was taken during the host dinner by Brokenshire College, and beside it is the gate of the resort the main function/plenary hall can be found. Things would’ve been peachy keen if only the chairs didn’t sink when planted on the grassy areas—it felt like quicksand sometimes.

This is my co-presentor, N. Left pic was on Day 1—those nippa hut cottage thingies witnessed how we tried to look like we know what we will talk about the next day. Middle pic was Day 2, presentation day and it looked like we winged it! (Though seriously, even if it looked like we did, I do not recommend cramming like that). Right pic was, IIRC, taken after the symposium was over—I mean, seriously, you think we could grin like that if it was prior to presentation?! (unless I’m wrong and this WAS indeed taken before we started—to which my brain can no longer function well enough to explain why I don’t remember when that happened).

Finally, the big kids from the land of green. All of them have been affiliated with the Psych Department at one point. I won’t do a roll call on who’s who—unless you, dear reader, fancy anyone in particular (to swoon over, or simply make fun of), then, ask me who he or she is.

So that’s part 2—told’ya it was short. Next update, maybe in a few days or so, would document what the big kids are really like when they are miles away from the department…without their wiser mentors.


To Be Continued.

Destination Davao: Ready, Steady, GO!!! (Part 1 of ?)

This will be a series of entries documenting my recent trip to Davao, mixing business with pleasure! ;P The Psyhological Association of the Philippines held it’s annual convention there and most of the big kids at the department went to present either their own or a department-collaboration research project. I went for the latter. It’s hitting two birds with one stone—I get to present and go somewhere I’ve never been to before. This would be the first of a series of pic spam entries, sometimes with a dash of crack—I’m not even sure how to blog this entire Davao thing and I’m afraid I will go crazy if I get too OC about it. So, without further ado, I present the first part—where me and some of the big kids prepare for Destination Davao.

Here we were at NAIA Terminal 3 waiting for our flight. ‘We’ is operationally defined as [left pic: P, A, J, S] and [right pic: P, T, A, J]. We’re acting like complete noobs in the place, taking pictures here and there—actually just practicing our photography skills and celebrating the legitimate break we had from work. Of course, in order to look credible at the slightest, we had to prepare. Or at least look prepared. Wait, P is prepared and S is, what the…reading a book?! That’s leaves me—looking cool and collected when in fact, this is the first related literature I’m reading!!!

So we arrive at Davao and we were so amused to see a welcome banner for participants of the convention. We just had to have our pictures taken so S politely asked a ‘manong/kuya’ who was passing by to take our pictures. ‘Manong/kuya’ politely obliged, and looked like she didn’t mind that she was referred by such honorific label. I could’ve sworn (and S, too, I think) the dude who looked like a ‘manong/kuya’ sounded like and could very well be a girl. Anyway, it was at this point that perhaps, some serendipitous Davao moments began. For one thing, T, P, S and I were able to hitch a ride with the shuttle bound for the venue of the conference. A was unable to join us because prior to this (when we were figuring out how to get to our lodging), he joined our other colleagues in a cab bound to our hostel and the four of us were to follow in a different cab. But then, T saw her friend who fetched one of the speakers from the airport and with some small talk and headcount, we found ourselves in the van headed for our hostel. In fairness to A, he was the first to reach the hostel since we had to make stops in two inns to drop the speakers off.

This is what our room looks like. *start sarcasm* OH-EM-GEE!!! There are beds!!! And we have a bathroom, too! *end sarcasm* This sure beats lodging at ‘Field trip from Hell’ hands down. We stayed at Bahay Alumni, operationally defined as AWESOME PLACE TO STAY when you’re in Davao. It’s practical with free breakfast at that! Amenities are complete and it’s not too fancy but just enough to get you by. I suppose the only critique I have, and maybe the others also, is how the toilet and bathroom are separated and why the latter does not have towel holders. For me, I guess I’m used to seeing the toilet and the shower together, where one can change near the toilet area immediately after shower. Also, as P had put it, the whole set-up was rather ‘effortful’ and it did took some getting used to. But it wasn’t bad, actually, it was more…challenging ; ). Funny, how the main concern was all about the toilet and bath and not the fact that we’re a mixed-gendered group in one room. Suffice to say, we were all disinhibited of whatever inhibitions we had after day one—labasan na ng mga kikay at vanity kits, and I ain’t referring to just the girls in the room. :D

After settling in, we went out to dinner at Penongs. Dude, great place! Cheap food, big serving, very tasty! We were obviously enjoying ourselves. ^___^. YUM.

This wasn’t exactly how the day ended (oh, boy, it’s sure wasn’t ; ) since we went to People’s Park afterwards. I’ll blog about that in a different entry, and until I’ve sorted which pictures to post. :P


To Be Continued.

Cogitations of an Idle Mind ver…3? 4?

I feel the need to update this blog but I can’t seem to connect with my muse who usually gives me the drive to write about something. So for now, I guess an update on what I’ve been doing would do…

I have less than two weeks before school starts and work begins again. I still haven’t made my preps. *looks at piles of junk on desk* I’m not even done completely fixing my room. But there’s a big improvement compared with the last year or so.

If I was such a loser for watching 300 way too late (meaning, DVD only), it’s a different story for Spiderman 3, which I saw on the second day of opening. Choco already blogged about this and while I didn’t really feel the slight drag of the movie that she felt, I quite agree with her assessment(!) about the movie. It wasn’t bad but I didn’t feel the urge to get the DVD, unlike maybe Fantastic 4. Spidey 3, imho, invested on emotions and character development—the last fight scene was really great, though. And yeah, do watch out for Harry Osbourne ^_^

I just finished revising one of the research projects (with Magnus and Quiaps) and I noticed how much difference 2 years made in terms of writing style. I recognized some of the portions I did in the paper and since I’m fresh from finishing my thesis (a.k.a the blissful journey to hell and back), I realized how, erm…my writing style has changed ^^;; Also, the way I looked at my old writing style…hehehe, it could use a lot of work.

Cogitations of an Idle Mind v.1

• Doing research is more fun when it’s not a requirement. I’ve done about 3 of these already and the experience was worthwhile. Of course, there’s pressure but not as much since I don’t have to think that my graduate degree will depend on it. Unfortunately, that is not the case with my thesis at the moment.

• Unlike most people, rainy days cheer me up. I like to watch the rain fall from the sky. I love the coolness it brings as well. Consequently though, this reinforces laziness and the desire to sleep for that extra ten minutes.

• A couple of weeks ago, I finished watching Full Metal Alchemist. The anime isn’t so bad, as a stand alone, that is—comparing it to the manga is another story. I liked the idea that our world is actually what’s on the other side of the gate. And Maes Hughes is just so funny. Too bad HE…

• And last week, I rewatched FULL METAL PANIC/TSR/FUMOFFU. The story is just brilliant. It’s taking a while for the next installment of the translated novel to be uploaded though.

• What does an archer, a sniper and a three-point shooter (in basketball) have in common? I don’t know what to call IT but if you do, tell me. Whatever IT is, I’m fascinated by it. It has grace with stealth in it. Success rate seems 50-50 and the presence is so covert. No wonder I tend to like people/characters with such roles. What can I say—it’s better than a swordsman, close-range battle or slam dunk!