One more weekend has passed. I spent my entire day at school since I had to attend our Civil Welfare Service synthesis. The only good thing is that hopefully, today would be the last Saturday I experience that.

Had to wake up early this morning in order to arrive at school on time. Despite the fact that I still have to do my Sci10 and Psy101 projects, duty calls.

It's a good thing I had my haircut last Wednesday. Mr. Bugas, our formator, actually bothered to check who had a haircut and who didn't. Still, I had my complaints. Escaler hall, the place where we were having our synthesis, was quite cold. I didn't even feel my pinkie anymore at one point.

I finally managed to make a "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" game using Flash for our Sci10 report on Monday. It's no quick feat as it took me two hours. Too bad I still have to make the Powerpoint presentation as well as "start" my Psychology self project. Me, a crammer? Isn't it obvious? Still, that's how I get things done.

As for my anime fanzine project, thing's aren't going as planned, especially now when I have to my papers and projects. Lea hasn't submitted her article, Krizelle kept postponing her interview, and I haven't had the time to make the layout. Worse, my computer is slowly self-destructing... Don't even get me started with my ISP...

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If there's a reason why I didn't write yesterday, the answer is simple: I was tired.

For one thing, Franco asked me to return to him his leg weights. Since I didn't have space in my bag and I was actually wearing my loose arnis pants, I wore the leg weights. They weren't that heavy and it didn't hamper me that much. I still kept my normal pace as I strolled around school and I always took two steps whenever I climbed the stairs. The only difference was that I couldn't run. At least not yet. It's too bad I returned them to Franco. Just when I was getting used to them, I already had to part with it.

Another interesting event yesterday was my arnis sparring exam. I was unlucky enough to get picked first. Worse, I faced off one of the varsity members instead of a fellow classmate. After donning the armor which protected my chest and head, the judge began the two minute bout. I was looking at only one thing: my opponent. The helmet made sure of that as it obstructed my vision. Instead of 180 degrees, my sight was reduced to 90. But the helmet was needed since it protected me from several blows to the head and that was where my opponent liked to strike. I was lucky to hit him with my thrust but as for my other slashes, it was usually blocked or worse, we traded blows. If it was a real battle, I would have been down since my blows were aimed at the body while his were aimed at my head. If it weren't for the armor, I'd have a cracked skull. All he'd probably have was a broken rib or two.

Strangely, my entire duel didn't seem like two minutes. Still, when it was other people's turn to compete, the time didn't seem enough. It was beneficial for me to fight one of the varsity members since they broke off after a strike or two, which was more likely to happen in real combat and what our teacher recommended. When my classmates fought each other, they rarely disengaged and continued their barrage on each other. Antonio, a very annoying person ever since third year high school, competed as well. He completely disregarded what our teacher taught us by putting his left arm behind his back (think of it as fencing). His loss, not mine.

I went home early today so that I could do my projects, especially psychology. What little free time in school I had today was spent reading and watching my crush. *sigh* She barely notices me. At least I saw her smile today as she was talking with her friends, Paula and Karla. Yesterday was probably worse as I saw her with more life than ever as she and Paula was solving a crossword puzzle.

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I finally got a haircut today. Can't say that I like it but it could have been worse. ROTC may be annoying but at least I'm not enrolled in the military whose rules are so much stricter. What made me think about that? The answer is Starship Troopers.

I finished reading Heinlein's novel. When I compare it to the movie (which I only saw snipets) or the TV series, they pale in comparison to the book. A lot of changes were made and granted, the theatrical and TV production had more "action", the book is a treasure in its own right.

The first difference is the characters. For one thing, the main character in the book is a Filipino. Juan Rico is his name and while glossing over the various starships, he commented that "there ought to be one named Magsaysay".

As for the rest of the cast you see in the movie and TV show, they all died except perhaps for the female pilot love interest (whose head was shaved for military protocol). Rasczak's death is mentioned in the third page, Carl didn't even reach field combat, and Jenkins was gone by the time you reach the middle. Starship Troopers is the story of one person: Rico, and Heinlein focuses on that.

Also, I mentioned earlier that if you want action, the movie is as better medium. There are only two pitched battles mentioned in the book and the first one only happens in the second half. Instead, the book dwells on the more difficult aspects of being a soldier: the training, the pressure, and the duty. Also, Heinlein's future government is identical to ours except for one simple but significant difference: in order to be recognized as a citizen, you have to enlist in the army. Thus, people who didn't pass military training does not have the right to vote, and this has a huge impact on society.

Throughout the book, you'll encounter various historical accounts and philosophical views. Interestingly, quotes that appear at the beginning of each chapter owe a lot to the Bible.

Perhaps the best aspect of the book is how the story ended. If you have the chance, I highly recommend the book. With only two hundred plus pages, it's also an easy read.

Oh yeah, did I mention that today, I found out that the beta version of Warcraft III is out? =)

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Another day passes by and I still fail to work on my piling assignments. I went home early today since I didn't have PE nor fiction class. I planned on doing my psychology project but alas, I was mesmerized by Final Fantasy 6.

I was able to arrive home by lunch time and until 5 p.m., I was on the computer, playing with the emulator game. There are several other things I could have done today. My psychology project for one. Another would have been having a haircut since there's an inspection on Saturday for my ROTC. I could also have had the computer's CD-ROM fixed but I opted not to since I'm going to need it for the entire week. Still, what's done is done. There's no point for me dwelling on the past.

Speaking of the past, I'm still feeling the effects of last Sunday's "fun run". My ribs are aching in addition to my thighs. I can't laugh that much since it hurts as well as getting up in the morning. And to think that I still have a sparring exam on Thursday.

I'm starting to miss Steph more and more. I see her in my dreams and I spend most of my waking moments deliberating what I could do to please her. I'm starting to think that there's now something that I could possibly regret. I didn't see her today and I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing.

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It's amazing what eight hours of sleep can do for you. After a few weeks of neglecting my writing (as can be seen in my previous entries), I finally feel rejuvenated enough to start something new. I'd like to attribute this change to How to Write a Better Weblog.

Let me start off with Sunday. Jobert drove me home at 1:30 am after playing his RPG game at his condo in Makati. The smart people, like Dennis and Seven, left early. It's not that his game was unjoyable or dull. In fact, I'm anticipating the next one. Rather, it was more of having chores and duties the next day. In my case, I had to attend a "fun run" for my CWS program. Waking up after four hours sleep was far from comfortable. Still, it was better than most days. I didn't stumble nor did I feel the urge to sleep for "just a few more minutes". Instead, I brushed my teeth, donned my clothes, and had the driver bring me to school. Since it was early morning, I was able to get there in five minutes.

I admit I was cocky during that day. When I saw the route, which was barely half of what I used to run for my PE class last year, I scoffed at it. While I knew that I wasn't in shape since all my energies have been lately devoted to arnis instead of running, I thought that I would make it through the entire course. Of course that wasn't how it went. After running for a kilometer, I was already having pains in my stomach area. I forgot what it's called but it's due to the lack of oxygen being processed. My heart was pumping and my mindset was ready but my body couldn't take it. I started to walk. Later on, when I had one more kilometer to go, I resumed my running but this time, I felt like vomiting. Apparently, my stomach hadn't digested my dinner last Saturday evening. Given the choice to either vomit or keep running, I chose the latter.

I had breakfast at McDonald's and said to my companions that I would be ordering five hash browns. They laughed. I did order five hash browns and Franco merely said that I should add protein to it. The day was just beginning as we still had several parlor games to participate in, all for the sake of our service program.

When I finally got home, I took a nap. It was a slumber I greatly appreciated... and needed. I then started a new addiction, playing Final Fantasy 6 on my computer whose CD-ROM drive still isn't fixed. Later that evening, I started reading Heinlen's Starship Troopers.

Today, I'm indulging my Final Fantasy addiction instead of working on the project I'm supposed to do for Psychology. For the past five hours or so, I've been staring at the computer and pressing on the keys. My mom also asked me to download another of her forms for her trip to Australia. I wish she started doing things herself.

Amidst all this, I'm tempted to fall asleep and forget the following days to come. I'm not motivated to do my Psychology project, or anything else for that matter. I miss Steph. Ever since she apologized for scolding me last week, I never got an email from her again. I was comparing the emails I received from her last year and the ones I've been getting now. The current ones lack a certain enthusiasm. It makes me wonder if I have a chance with her or not. Worse, she's even more distrustful and secretive towards me these days. At one point, I want to help her but I'm afraid that she'll bite my head off for meddling in her affairs. On another, I could leave her alone but that may make her think I don't care about her anymore. I also can't stand it when I'm forced to watch a friend suffer without the capacity to do anything to help. The most I can do is send her words of encouragement but they're just that... words. Too much of them and they might just annoy the person. Such is the state that I'm in.

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