Bye September, Hello October.
Hello there! I was gone for about a month and a half. To be perfectly honest, September was quite a stretch. I started clocking in before time and coming to the lab the earliest time possible that my daily commute permits.September was both spectacular and rough. It was rough. Quite rough. I have to wake up before 5:00 a.m. and get ready for work and be out of the house before the clock strikes 6:00 a.m. Then I have to go through the painstaking commute and tread all the traffic jams. I have three traffic jams to deal with every morning and that alone accounts for all the exhaustion of the day. Lab experiments have become quite an easy a task compared to sitting on traffic jams. The only good thing about the traffic jams is that I am able to cross out books from my reading list. Last month I finished reading Carl Sagan's Cosmic Connection and Neil deGrasse Tyson's Pluto Files and I was able to start with Carl Sagan's Cosmos. I was actually able to make good use of the painstaking 2-hr commute.Another thing that is kind of rough last month was, in the account of letting myself go broke because of that impulsive Japan trip last month, I wasn't really doing well with my finance. I have yet to receive any pay yet for September because my authority wasn't signed until last Monday. It was really difficult, I had to ask help from my mom and a few good people so I could survive the rest of the month. Well, my papers have been signed so that will come to an end this week and I can finally thank them and pay them off. :)Now let's go spectacular because that makes for a better story.Spectacular because our paper was finally out!Yes! Remember all that procrastination and whining and bouts with depression about three years ago? Well, that baby has come into fruition and it's fun and exciting and the lab is so ecstatic about it!Another spectacular thing is one of the people that I look up to the most in the Japanese entertainment world, Kokubun Taichi, has recently announced his marriage! Yes, as a fan of TOKIO, I feel beyond heaven to have heard the news I was crying. I was in the lab doing some experiments and my friend had to text me about the raving news and the celebrating fandom.Because who wouldn't be happy to see Taichi get married and start a beautiful family? This guy has been one of the faces of the morning news and he's been a very successful person both in and outside of TOKIO. He deserves all the happiness in every form. And who doesn't want to see some mini-Kokubuns? :3And lastly I was able to go back to the Manila Ocean Park after a long while. I attended a conference there so I wasn't able to see the attractions apart from the tube aquarium that's facing our conference hall but it was really fun! I enjoyed the conference! Most, if not all, of the speakers gave interesting insights about topics related to the conservation of Manila Bay, Manila's main port. There was an archaeologist who gave a picture of the land cover facing Manila Bay and how it has expanded to the bay through the process of reclamation. (The guy who gave the talk even approached me and asked if we've met before because he said I strangely looked familiar. I am rarely mistaken for someone else, in fact this is the first time. XD) There was also an oceanographer who explained the residence time of the water in the bay and how it is greatly affected by reclamation. My boss also talked about the current Manila Bay biodiversity as well as the occurrence of invasive species and other salient information for marine conservation.A mangrove expert, THE Dr. Jurgenne Primavera, was also there to point out the importance of having a scientific basis on decision-making with regards to conservation projects as seemingly simple as mangrove planting. She gave an account of how the government units, both local and national levels, have drastically failed on making the trees they planted for record-breaking tree-planting projects survive. Apparently, these people who conceptualize this kind of project do not consult experts nor look for scientific basis on which trees should be planted where. They are basically acting out of convenience, with the motivation of breaking some trivial Guinness record. And she was lecturing everyone that people should be more concerned of the organisms' survival rather than their starting number. Grandma sure hit the bull's eye there and it doesn't just apply to those project leaders not consulting science experts; it applies to everyone, to you, to me, maybe even to my dog. Hers was the most interesting and stimulating talk in the conference. She's the real deal. She's a hero.Aside from that, an urban planner presented a really good plan on developing the port and the infrastructure along the Manila Bay. Too bad, there was not a soul representing the Office of the Mayor and the local government unit of Manila to hear about this very brilliant plan. Because they seriously need to hear this plan out to save Manila from sinking. Oh and there was also someone who provided information on an ecological park alongside Manila Bay that serves as a stopover for migratory birds escaping winter and as a home for endemic species like the Philippine duck. (PHILIPPINE DUCK!!!)The conservation was seriously interesting and relevant and the topics really urged the people, at least us scientists, to find ways to save and conserve Manila Bay and, by extension, to keep Manila from sinking. Just these three things made September a spectacular course of time. See?Yeah, most of the time I was just watching the rays fly in the water. Oh, and eat some vanilla ice cream. Haha!As for October, I'll be moving out soon. A friend and I found a room near both our work place and we'll be sharing a house with a few law students. Truth is, we haven't secure the room yet because the guy we're making a deal with is being such a dick because he still wants to recover all his money after backing out of renting the said room. Oh, well. I really hope I'd be able to move out this month, because the hellish morning traffic is doing me more harm than good and it's not even November. Aside from that, I've been writing proposals for tuna management. I'm also thinking of applying to different universities for a PhD scholarship. I don't think there's no point waiting until I'm ready. I mean, we can't be ready enough in most of our lives' most important decisions, can we?I guess that's it for me for September and October. Oh, Orionids peak is on October 21, you should watch out for that! And most of the museums and the planetarium offers free entrance this month in celebration of Museums and Galleries Month. I might be seeing more of Manila this October, sweet! Don't forget to look up,L
