Animo La Salle!

Woke past 8am. As much as I wanted to plop in front of my computer and connect to the internet, I had to force myself to dress up and go to La Salle Taft. I've decided to still be on leave this term and this week is the last week for filing of residency. I know I enrolled online last month, but I keep forgetting to go to La Salle to pay the fee!

When I got there, lots of students have also decided to wait for the last few days before filing for residency. Ergo, there was line. As I waited for the registrar people to call my name, I was amused to see lots of people wearing t-shirs in shades of green. Though no uniform is required, it seems that many LaSallians like wearing the school color... for today anyway.

As I left, I bumped into Jun Razal... I heard he'd gone back to finish his MBA and estimated that he'd finish it this year. He was surprised to find out I am on LOA, then he asked me where to go first to file for residency as well. My turn to be surprised. He told me he only had to make revisions on his paper - and still he wants to go on leave? Maybe, he needs more time to finish his paper.

I hate doing papers. That's why I went on leave last term and this term - I have no time to do them. No idea when I'd feel up to doing that chore and go back to school. Frankly, I want to shift from MBA to M.S. Computational Finance. No thesis required and I believe I'll learn more about my line of work - Treasury trading! Lots of math though. Argh!

I had hoped to use La Salle's Bloomberg terminal to look up money market data I failed to check Friday because my mind wasn't on work as early as 4:30pm. Was disappointed to find out the terminal's at the RCBC campus where the MS Computational Finance subjects are offered. Great, another reason to want to shift to MSCF.

Rather than go to the RCBC campus, I hopped onto a bus headed for SM South Mall. I wanted to watch a movie and the theater tickets there are cheaper. No good movie was showing so I ate then ended up browsing in computer shops with a mind to buy a scanner.

I wanted one that could scan film and found out few shops are selling that type. Those that do only offer Canon, HP and Epson. All 3 are expensive. Found one selling Genius, but I doubt if it was good. I was looking for Microtek since I've noticed that the photo shops that offer scanning use that brand. It's cheaper than Canon, Epson or HP, but should be good enough to be used by photo shops. Found one shop selling Microtek. A gay guy was manning the place.

Now, based on my experience when I bought my PC, guys in computer shops usually assume that women are clueless regarding computers. When Jon and I were canvassing, the salesmen were talking to him and not me. I was annoyed and amused - annoyed that they think I wouldn't know about computers, and amused at the fact that those days, I knew more about computers than Jon did.

This guy part of the person in question made the "clueless" assumption, the gay part of him wasn't courteous enough to me. He doesn't seem to like spending time explaining to me what additional parts I would need to buy to be able to use the Microtek scanner to scan film. I looked at the box and noticed that although he wanted to sell the 3780 model to me, the 4800 model was ready to scan film without me having to buy accessories. I wanted him to confirm that but he said that the 4800 was more expensive at PHP4,800. That did it! Before i walked into his shop I was considering buying the Epson fax/printer/scanner for less than PHP6,000. He thinks I couldn't spend more than PHP3,000. And if you're asking why I decided not to buy the 3-in-1 Epson contraption from the other store - it's because it couldn't scan film and I have a belief that any device that has many functions lumped into it easily breaks down. Worse, once they break down, they're expensive to repair.

I left South Mall and rode a jeepney to Alabang Town Center. Although South Mall is always crowded, the floor where the computer shops usually aren't. Computer shopping isn't something people do everyday, that's why. In Festival Mall however, the computer shops aren't that segregated from other shops. With Festival Mall second only to SM South Mall in pedestrian traffic, I decided to go to Town Center. It isn't as crowded since the theaters, specialty shops and restaurants there are expensive. I also think some people are intimidated by the folk that frequent the place - being close to Ayala Alabang Village, half the crowd in Town Center belong to the upper middle class and even higher. I have discovered though when I was canvassing for PC that computer shops there offer prices comparable to those in South Mall and Festival.

When I got to Town Center, I headed towards Power Books first. I bought three books. One was a translation of the pseudegraphical Book of Enoch, another was about the Ivatan Laji, and the third was about the Ibalong (Bicol Folk Epic). I collect books on Philippine mythology and the pseudegraphical books that were taken out from the bible during the I-can't-remember council by the church heads of old - as in centuries ago.

When I got out of Power Books, I browsed some Video shops. I was hoping that at least one would still have in stock the 4-disc DVD special edition of the Fellowship of the Ring. I requested Kuya Willy to buy me that but he bought me the widescreen 2-disc set instead. During the time I was waiting for Kuya Willy's gift to arrive, Jon saw one last set of the 4-disc set and asked me if I wanted to buy it. I didn't. Now I wish I had.

When I was through browsing the Video stores, I headed towards the computer shops. Surprise! The area was brimming with teenagers. The Cheering Competition - High School level was today and it had just started when I got there. The Red Ravens performed first and I wondered what school it was. I suspected it was St. Benedict College and later found out I guessed right. I found it stupid that they call themselves red ravens. Ravens are black in the first place. I figured they chose the raven because the bird is associated with St. Benedict. I'm Scholastican so I know the history of that saint. Red on the other hand is the school color of St. Benedict College. I liked it better when their school was called Benedictine Abbey. With most of the school's students living in the Alabang area, many of them came to support their team - and you could identify them because of their red blouses or t-shirts.

I didn't stay to watch the ravens and proceded to visit the computer shops. Most offered Canon, Epson and HP. Delighted that all salespeople were courteous. Not everyone knew what they were selling though. Once, I asked what technology was used in a certain scanner - CCS or CIS. The guy had no idea what I was talking about. I left their shop. I finally found a store selling Microtek. Unfortunately, they ran out of the 4800 series. I was told the replacement stock would be delivered next week. I said I will return. I liked the salesperson - he seemed to know what he's selling and he's helpful.

When I got out, San Agustin had finished performing and St. Scho was next. Being from the school, I stayed to watch. I had to chuckle at recognizing some of the cheers. After more than 10 years, the chinggawa chant is still alive. That chant was created when I was in High School or maybe 6th grade. Whenever that was, we won the GALS cheering competition that year. Approved of the loud voices of the cheering squad. I remember when I was the one learning those cheers, we had to be told that it wasn't enough that the voice is loud, it has to be deep to have impact. The other schools don't seem to know what we know - you can't hardly make out their chants even if they had boys in their cheering squads. I can't say I approve 100% with the performance of St. Scho's current cheerdancers - they need more practice climbing on shoulders and backs. Their formations didn't hold and although they had air flips, they weren't synchronized.

Araullo High was next. They would've done okay, but they put in too many arm movements which made their routine hard to synchronize.

Manuel L. Quezon University (MLQU) followed. They were good! I thought they had a good chance of winning. Their formations held longer than the previous schools' - and that meant they really put in a lot of practice.

La Salle Zobel was last. Like St. Benedict College, most of La Salle Zobel's students also live in the Alabang area. The audience was mostly either from La Salle or St. Benedict, and are therefore either wearing green or red. La Salle was as good as MLQU. They just outdid MLQU by performing more air flips and the fact that their formations held while they "moved". I meant that girls managed to stay standing on guys' arms while the guys moved around the place.

While we waited for the tabulation of scores, prizes were given to one of St. Scho's cheerdancers for managing a good back flip. All 6 schools were asked to send a cheerdancer each to perform a "split". La Salle's contestant was charming but didn't do a good show so she got third place. St. Scho's bet was graceful and got 2nd place. First place was the girl from St. Benedict who managed to combine gusto and technique.

Finally, the winners for the cheering competition were announced: Third place was St. Benedict, Second place was MLQU, Champion was La Salle.

I realized it was almost 7pm so I passed by Cafe Nescafe to buy 2 orange poppy seed cup cakes and a frozen belgian orange coffee. I ate one cupcake as I sipped the frozen coffee and read a book I bought, the other cupcake I brought home.

Passed by National Book Store but didn't see a book I wanted to buy. Noted that the store was selling costumes and eerie toys for Halloween, candles for All Saints Day, and decorations for Christmas. Yup, the "ber" months are here. Decided to buy some candles.

I think I got home around 10pm. Jon's still sleeping on the living room sofa because his room smells strongly of fresh paint. Ginger the cat has developed the habit of sleeping at his feet. She's going to ruin his blanket with her claws.

Midnight! The poppy seed cake will make a good snack. Ta ta!