Hard, harder, hardest

July 26, 2009

School toxicity levels are rising! I have so many closely-spaced requirements to meet in less than a month.

 

29 July – First long exam in NS 50 (It would be a 2-hour essay-type exam on the historical and philosophical backgrounds of evolutionary concepts, basic issues causing conflict between believers of evolution and believers of religion, cosmological and geological evolution, extinction and extinction events, and biodiversity.)

 

31 July – 7 August – Impromptu speech in Comm. III (I’m having a hard time finding a knitted sweater to match my blue short-sleeved polo, or a tie and slacks to go with my borrowed long-sleeved polo – I hate business attire!)

 

12 August – Submission of film reviews in STS (The films to be reviewed are I Robot, The Island, Aeon Flux, Bicentennial Man and Minority Report.)

 

14 August – Deadline for the checking of interview questions in DS 123 (My partner and I were assigned to interview Dr. Edelina de la Paz of the UP College of Medicine on the topic “Challenges and Prospects of Community Medicine: the Philippine Experience”.)

 

21 August – Deadline for the DS 123 AVP on Philippine Health Issues

 

***

 

“What a delight to have friends come from afar.”

 

This well-known Chinese expression (sorry, I don’t know the Chinese characters for it) is included in the opening lines of the Analects of Confucius. The complete sentence goes like this: “To learn something and then to put it into practice at the right time: is this not a joy? To have friends coming from afar: is this not a delight? Not to be upset when one’s merits are ignored: is this not the mark of a gentleman?”

 

It’s really a delight to have friends eager to help me despite the distances between us.

 

I hope someday I will be able to cross the same distances and be of help to them. I will!

 

***

 

So there was this bitchy sorority girl who once said, in class, that she isn’t a virgin anymore and that she enjoys not being so.

 

What can I say? WOW!

 

***

 

I’m not going to be around tomorrow because I’m going to watch the SONA.

 

***

 

Is Globe Broadband really slow? My mother thought of applying for it but a neighbor told us that Globe Broadband is slow, even the 1Mbps plan (which is around P 1,300 per month.) I did a little math and found out that my internet expenses at my favorite PC shop never exceeds P 800.00 per month (and that includes the electric bill for the PC and airconditioning and the free food I get every once and a while), and I’m satisfied with the speed. I have so many things to do that I may not be able to take advantage of the unlimited internet usage stipulated in the plan. The only drawback is that I can never seed torrents and that I’m limited by time; after all, the PC shop is not a convenience store open round-the-clock.

 

Maybe it can wait. When I have a stable job, I’ll upgrade my PC and apply for a PLDT phone reconnection. I’m planning of taking the more expensive plans (beyond what our current budget can accommodate) to suit my needs.

 

***

 

Hindi naman sa naging lalaki na ako all of a sudden, pero crush ko yung isa dito. Yung nasa 0.55.

 

Naming names

Finally, I now have passable, authentic Korean and Japanese names (aside from the Chinese name I have chosen). I made it a point to choose names that are similar to how my given name is read and spelled. 

 

Korean name: 민재룡 / Min Jae-Ryong

 

I don’t really know what the surname means or connotes, but, considering that Koreans have a very limited pool of surnames, I guess I don’t have that much of a choice.

 

My sister helped me choose the name Jae-Ryong. My first choices were actually Jung-Hwa and Jung-Hee (probably the same as Chung-hee of General Park Chung-hee) but I didn’t really like them. My sister has heard of many Korean television characters with the name Jae so she thought I might like it. I added the Ryong part as the equivalent of the second syllable of my given name. Jae means “respect” while Ryong means “dragon”. In Korea, dragons are considered benevolent beings connected with water. That suits me well since, as I have found out through dozens of online tests and my own “face reading”, I’m a water-person.

 

My name has a hanja equivalent, but I like my name in hangul better.

 

Japanese name: 湊峙朗 / Minatoya Jirou

 

My first choice for a surname was Minami or “south”. However, two of my friends thought that Minami sounded like an appliance or candy brand. Only three other Japanese surnames I know have “Mina” in them: Minabuchi, Minamoto and Minatoya. I don’t like the sound of Minabuchi and I find Minamoto too historical. The Kanji symbol for Minatoya means “port” or “harbor.” Water is still there!

 

Jirou is fairly common boy’s name in Japan. It usually means “second eldest son”; it is a relative of the name Tarou (eldest son) and Saburou (third eldest son.) But Jirou can be spelled in many ways, and there lies the name’s varied meanings. For my name I chose the characters 峙朗 – the ji [峙] means “soaring” while the rou [朗] means “bright.” There is the aspiration that I will soar high towards brightness or light. Cool, don’t you think?

 

I have the choice of just transliterating my name to Mina Jiriku (in katakana) (ミナジリク) but I fear the Japanese might mistake my Mina with their word for “the name of God” or “everyone”.

 

***

 

It’s fun giving yourself a well-thought of name, even if only informal. My parents weren’t that intelligent to have given me a more meaningful one.