BREAKING NEWS: Ely rushed to hospital.

Being a bio major, my academic load has reduced me to just following people's twits about the ongoing gig, along with the help of Twitter search (unfortunately Luis' twuzzer toy is still tied to Olympic updates).

So, to cut it short: Long break was called, but then it wasn't really a break, apparently Ely had a heart attack backstage, and now they're cutting the concert short.

Details are still murky, but you'd find some here

Here's hoping that he recovers...

UPDATE: Ely's conscious and in stable condition.

UPDATE: Ely's currently undergoing triple bypass surgery.

UPDATE: So much for all that drama, it was just elevated blood pressure. Sheesh.

And oh, the remaining three played a second set in saguijo.

Yet another HP screw-up

My wireless adapter just got fried yesterday, and a quick search on the intarwebz revealed that i was not alone. Apparently, this is just the beginning of the impending doom that's about to rain down on me. If these people are to be believed, sooner or later the display would probably malfunction, and that would be if I'm lucky since others seem to have crashed their hard drive right from the beginning. So I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that I wouldn't have to suffer the same fate as these people. I've got an online backup system up and ready for critical files should anything happen, but then Mozy doesn't seem to recognize the new file formats Office 2007 uses, along with some of my ebooks, vector packs, and psd files.

The problem supposedly roots from a faulty motherboard that some Pavilion and Presario notebooks use, and it's interesting to note that I've already had mine replaced due to the same problem a few months ago, when I was still covered by the standard 12-month warranty. It seems that HP is just throwing out replacements even when it's already friggin' obvious that this isn't an isolated problem and the MoBo's they're handing out are bound to have the same defects. Although to be fair, even though they're quite slow, they've issued warranty extensions here, though I'm not quite sure if this applies worldwide, since the customer rep over at the local service center gave me some vague replies and just asked me to bring a copy of the said page when I bring my laptop in for repair. But given my past experiences with their service, I'm just opting for an external wireless card for now.

I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.

I'll skip out the horrendous details of the motherf***ing bulls**t of a Taxonomy exam I just flunked took a few days ago, along with all the lump of exams clustered around the next few weeks, to rid my mind of all these ideas that have been festering inside my empty skull for quite some time now.

Lately, I've been stumbling across more lunatics (as in hardcore loonies) than usual, which have prompted me to reexamine my own crumbling notions on sanity. (But then again it could just be that I'm only beginning to notice things I usually take for granted now that I'm more aware of nutcases, given that all those consecutive exams seem to be beginning to take their toll lately. The seeming incoherence of my statements, along with the extensive use of parentheses and strike-outs, only further drives the point home.)

While it might seem brain-dead easy (so easy in fact that "getting it wrong" is enough for you to be convicted by some as insane) to gauge whether a person is sane or not using what may seem as definite and concrete criteria, things start to get murky when you consider how exactly people define normal.

1. Sanity, or being what is called normal, can simply be seen as akin to falling under the mean or the general mindset. Think about it this way, statisticians didn't name that hump of a curve the "Normal Distribution" for nothing.

In a way, this reflects the general view (or what I perceive to be as general, as I'll explain later) on sanity, with the sane people falling under the big hump. As for why there are two skewed ends for the insane ones instead of only one, one guy sarcastically pointed out that when you're filthy rich and powerful, you cannot possibly be regarded as insane, but you would only be eccentric. All this seems obvious, since most of what our society would deem as radical or deviant does indeed seem insane to most of us. But then remember that Darwin and Copernicus were branded as lunatics during their time, yet at the present age we acknowledge that they were reasonably, in fact undoubtedly, sane. If you were to step in their shoes, you'd think you'd have no reason to call yourself insane, since in our era their ideas are, at least to a certain degree with regards to evolution, scientifically proven. This goes to show just how fluid the notion of sanity can be, and also brings us to my next point.

2. Remember how it is often said that a clear indication that you're truly out of your mind is when you don't think there's anything insane about your line of thoughts or pattern of actions? It turns out that it does have some basis, but only in the sense that you probably can be forgiven for thinking that it's the people around you who are acting or thinking strangely.

There's a concept in Psychology they call the "General Consensus Bias", and it has a lot to do with what our perceptions on what is normal or generally acceptable. It is a given fact that we think of ourselves as normal. What the General Consensus Bias simply states is that are line of thinking often goes:

a. I am a normal and perfectly sane person.
b. Therefore, through a, any normal and sane person should think, act, and behave like me.
c. Consequently, in accordance with b, people who think and act differently would probably have to be insane.

Okay, that might seem a bit too straightforward, maybe even crazy, but that is simply a distilled version of the General Consensus Bias, and most of us would have to admit that we usually apply that line of thinking in our everyday lives.

The notion of sanity is more fluid than what we think, or would like to think, it is. In summary, it's simply an overlap between your views and that of the general (or, again, what you perceive as general) populace. It goes without a doubt that the two influence one another, one way or the other. So the next time you see that filthy and smelly guy talking to plastic bags, try to put yourself in his shoes and do yourself and others a favor, take a bath try to figure out what sanity truly means. Nah, I'm just trying to screw around your head, trying to give you the sensation of a mindf*ck those exams gave me. =P

HARD TO BELIEVE pero HUWAG MO NANG ITANONG [8.30.08]

Okay, the title is obviously an uninspired ripoff. But hey, I'm fresh from two exams the past week, and another two are coming this week, and one or two the week after that.

I was just taking a 5 minute break from my hemorrhage inducing review sessions when I stumbled upon this:



Need I say more? It's supposedly been confirmed, THE MOTHERF***ING ERASERHEADS ARE F***ING REUNITING, but for one night only. From what I've read, they're being funded by a multinational corporation, who supposedly offered them a twelve-figure sum to do the gig. Details are murky, but the rumors all agree that it would probably be held in the pasay bay area on August 30, 2008

If this is true, then f*ck Panic at the Disco, I'd blow money I don't exactly have on this one night gig.

As I've said I'm currently busy at the moment, so I'll just link you up with an entry containing the links.

UPDATE: It's confirmed. CCP open grounds, August 30, 2008.

Ecstatic with the Pressure

Barely two weeks into my third year and I already find myself swamped with a ton of readings, some plates here and there, and a plethora of encrypted notes sitting on my lap. Not to mention the various commitments I almost unknowingly signed up for. And of course who can forget the blasted exams, scheduled to be clustered around the same days and occuring in intervals of barely two weeks. A very exciting future ahead of me indeed.

Yes, I've ranted about how our schedule puts the BS into B.S. Biology, but this time I think that something feels different. I am in fact, astonishingly, pumped up and enraptured with the stress bearing down upon me. It could be that my mantra worked (which involves repeating to myself how much I like my course and all it implies, all while every orifice in my body is gushing with blood) I'm merely living a hallucination, and when the exams rain down upon me I'd be disillusioned and all the exhaustion I've denied myself would smack me right in the face. Well I guess we'd just have to sit it out and see what happens, wouldn't we?