I love the cold

Climate change seems to be following me around. Yesterday evening, I took my last exam for a basic environmental science subject. It was for the third of a lecture series, this one being the atmosphere module. My lady professor seemed to enjoy our obvious distress, chuckling delightedly when I let out a cry of scholarly misery upon passing my bluebook.

I'm home now, so I've just gone through a regional climate change. The cold is doing wonders for my damp soul. It feels like December out here. I love it. The heat in Manila addles the brain.

Last night, my parents and I were discussing the possible change in my curriculum. Ma said that she was washing her hands of the rash decision I made and told me and Pa off for hanging my academic career on the euphoria of one conversation about global warming. Pa declared that it was actually Al Gore's fault and his blasted movie. This was partially true, as the man was rather convincing. He was also intelligent and charming, which are always pluses. I was a naive little girl who didn't know any better. Global warming has more dimensions than I first supposed. Everything we need to know about this environmental transformation cannot be encapsulated in one film. There are other discoveries, other exciting ideas dancing on the fringe of scientific consciousness. We should always consider the alternatives. On the other hand, it's difficult to do so when everyone is jumping on the bandwagon. Al Gore and the United Nations Panel have just been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts on climate change.

Anyhow, I hope you guys are gearing up for Blog Action Day. Let's save our planet!

Heat + references to friends' homes + dreams

I have been trying not to complain about the heat in Manila. I'm thinking, It's Manila. What do you expect? The operative word is "trying." It's hard not to complain when the heat saps all of my energy and keeps me from doing anything productive. Surely, this heat is beyond normal.

In the Inquirer today, Conrado deQuiros writes that global warming "is not an environmental issue, (but a) survival issue."

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Here is a product of a long MRT ride. I put together obscure references to my friends' homes:

My friend Zye lives in Carmona, Makati. There was this beer commercial (San Miguel, I think) where a guy takes his friends out for drinks and realizes that he forgot his wallet at home. He tells his friends he has to go and get it. As he leaves, one of his guests inquires after him:

Friend 1: Saan ba nakatira si (let's call him...) Eugene?
Friend 2: Sa Carmona.
Friend 1: Ah...sa Makati.
Friend 2: Hinde! Sa Carmona, Cavite!
Everyone in the beerhouse (in shocked tones): sa CAVITE?!!

My other Baguio friends live in Marikina, Metro Manila. The other evening, Nicole took me to Riverbanks Mall where we were to buy the ingredients for that night's dinner of fake crab and pechay. We finished our business at the supermarket and decided to look around for a bit. Apparently, Nicole had a surprise for me. At the very end of that stretch of mall is a shoe store that houses the World's Largest Shoes.
(Photo taken from the blog Welcome to my World by navigate53. Included in the post Explore Philippines: Marikina City.)
Incidentally, I am still homeless. My father didn't enjoy the idea of me living in a windowless room. I am currently shuttling back and forth between my lolo's house in Makati and Marikina. I'm living out of a suitcase. Very rockstar, but also very inconvenient. If you guys might point me in the direction of a cheap room for rent near Diliman, it would be most appreciated.

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Last night, I dreamed that I revealed all of Maika's secrets through a text message. Apparently, I was exhausted and didn't know what I was texting. It was almost as if I was drunk. In my dream, I woke up (yeah, I woke up in the dream) with a bad feeling. I looked in my Sent Items and found I had texted all of Maika's deepest, darkest (Eh?) secrets to a certain Chloe. (I think the name Chloe stuck because last night, before I left Marikina for Makati, the people there were watching Match Point. Emily Mortimer's character's name was Chloe.) Maika, do you know anyone named Chloe? If not, we're good. Besides, in the dream, you forgive me. I give you a peace offering - a book called Myths Retold.


Read more: While searching for an article about the World's Largest Shoes, I found this site which includes some World Records the Philippines has acquired. Check out the Largest Loot in History. Thievery in high places. Very amusing.

Career change

After an impressive amount of procrastination, I finally sent in my application yesterday. I also changed my mind and applied for environmental science instead of marine biology. I have long been in love with the dream of a career spent almost a hundred percent of the time in the ocean. I wanted to study marine biology first, because I wanted to rescue the whales and dolphins from extinction (I know...I was a little girl!). Then, I saw this documentary about jackass (Who knew?) penguins being rescued from an oil spill in Boulders Beach, South Africa. I felt something like terrible purpose when I watched those penguins get released back into the sea. I wanted to be on the beach, setting those clean penguins free. My heart was really set on marine science, but in the months leading up to now, the passion has been waning. My mind has been turning to other things like conservation, genetics and even writing. For a short time, I thought genetics might be the science for me. I thought that if I couldn't do any research, I could work in a sperm bank. Although now that I think of it, there is no lack for sperm here in the Philippines. I also like the mathematics of genetics, the probabilities. There is also a degree of prescience, which I find fascinating.

My love for writing may again be put to the test. I will soon be making a journey back to the empirical world. I will be getting ready to squeeze out literary creativity to make room for solid science. Don't be surprised if, in a few months, my writing will be wrung dry of romance or imagination. Join me in mourning the imminent demise of my artistic soul.

What finally prompted me to go for environmental science was when my father and I were watching this bit of news about global warming. My dad nodded to the TV and said "Why don't you try this out?" The idea of working on something related to global warming was actually already hop-scotching around in my head at the time. I had just seen An Inconvenient Truth a couple of weeks ago and I had since been thinking of the widespread effects of the phenomenon. I found myself particularly interested in the ecological effects of climate change and considered making a career of it (Sorry, went all geeky there for a second) So, sitting on our blue couch with my puppy lounging on my lap, I thought "What the hell, environmental science it is."

I have a couple of weeks to wait and see if I got into the program. I have my fingers crossed. I need mojo, people! Weirdly apt for the occasion, there's this article in the NY Times about how a dean of admissions got a little nuts about her academic background.