It’s Friday!

The last few days have been very busy. This sentence is normally a staple in my pseudo-vocabulary, but this time it’s quite the anomaly.

I’m graduating tomorrow, and supposedly, my life should be stress free as an almost graduate. We’ve been practicing movement and songs only.

I, however, have more than just practices and singing. I’ve been handling:

• INK – Even though I am graduating, I (together with my fellow editors) still have been working overtime and beyond duty in order to have our third issue (of The Blue Flame) released by cards out. I am very sorry to my layout editor, who is harrassed and driven to sickness this near to our special day. :| When our seniors last year were about to graduate, they had washed their hands clean of the third issue –leaving it to us (me, as a features editors turning EiC, and to our current layout ed, who was then a new recruit who wasn’t even an official member yet, and so received no grade for it). It’s simply unfair. Sigh. The problem obviously lies with the third year batch this year. They’ve taken no responsibility (mainly because the EiC-to-be went off with the Student Council, and the only junior left with an ounce of competency and enthusiasm is the literary editor, and so would die from editing news). Also, I’ve been ranting in hideously long sentences.
• Entrepreneurship Project – This one is funny. Our culminating project for Entrep Class involves us groups creating and selling a product. While others sold CD mixes, instagram pics, jello snacks and accessories, our group had this stupid brilliant idea of creating a DVD “memorabilia” custom-fit for our class. It involves the videos of our staging of Shakespeare’s Hamlet last schoolyear (as a homogenous/honors class, we’ve been together for two years), our recital of Bonifacio’s Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa (though we, the delegates o Spain, weren’t there), our recent Grad Song Competition (we only won third; apparently our song was not meant for s too literary) as well as pictures of our retreat and art attack and audio of our Class Grad Song (in piano only) and most of our group singing. This is a very long explanation. The point is, I’ve been burning it for the last two days (it takes long, even though we marketed it around Feb; our grad song compe video was only given to me last Wednesday by the AVC).
• YEARBOOK – This one is even funnier. It’s not something I’m really “handling” –more like subtly neglecting. (I’m part of the layout team.)

My feels are endless.

I’m not valedictorian, or salu. Those honors (specifically second honor) go to Rosewynn (she was vale in GS as well/my news editor) and Mikee (my “sister”). Well. I’m leaving my HS with a diploma, medal for Second Honors, Loyalty Medal and a plaque (named after a German sister I cannot remember) for my service to outreach. (I’m rank 3 –so close!)

I could have made vale or salu if I just worked harder this second quarter. I suddenly dropped from consistent top 1/2/3 to eleventh rank.

But the fact is: there are no Top Awards this year. I consider the Top Awards most significant, even moreso than the highest academic award. The Top Awards -similar to the Benedictine Award for Service and Leadership I received in GS- considers not just academic competence, but more importantly the values and character traits honored by the School/Scholastican and Benedictine Leadership. There are three: SSC Leadership, Benedictine Award (spiritual and social service aspects) and Scholastican Awards (overall). I’ve been vying for all of them; throughout my high school career I tried my best to excel in all my chosen fields.

But my nomination for two awards (SSC Leadership and Scholastican) in my class was for naught. Why? Well it all boils down to miscommunication and inefficiency (I’d say incompetence, but that is one of the highest insults I could give anyone.) The nomination, deliberation and awarding ceremony goes like this: each class submits a list of nominees to the CSAS, and the deliberation will include only names that have been nominated by two-thirds of the batch.

The problem? Only three sections submitted. I’ve heard a number of excuses, and though some of them were acceptable to a certain point, it does not erase the fact that there are no Top Awardees this year.

Fun. :|

But this is the main subject.

By “Bookstore Mania”, I am pertaining to me, my sister and a friend going through three bookstores in GB (Nat’l Bookstore, Powerbooks and Fullybooked). This “trip” and some food gorging and movie watching (Hunger Games!), were done while waiting for my mom’s own trip to the salon, cloth shop and work.

But this is probably the most important part to anyone randomly reading this…

My Updated Wishlist

Neil Gaiman Presents The Philippine Graphic/Fiction Awards Prose Anthology (Available only in Fullybooked) – 550

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams – 499

Moleskin Book Journal What I want the most :) – 1299

The 101 most influential people who never lived by Lazar, Karlan & Salter (harper) – 579

And others: a new bookshelf, Oscar Wilde’s Picture of Dorian Gray, Arthur Conan Doyle’s Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

Hmm. Obviously I’m posting on a non-Friday, but it’s the thought that counts. :)