derpinsel.com - pixels, stories and texts by angela solis

Convocation / Graduation 2008

I AM DONE WITH MY BACHELOR’S DEGREE, PEOPLE! YAY!

The ceremony was today, and I was accompanied with my parents, Joann and Lemarie. Joann gave me flowers. ♥ Ceremony started exactly at 3:00 although we graduands had to hang around Max Bell to get our graduation gowns and wait until the ceremony starts. My seatmate, Mr. 191, didn’t show up, instead my seatmate was Mr. 192, who has a degree in Psychology and… apparently, drama. Haha. I saw Ashley too (the girl I met at the grad ball). Lots of people wearing flip flops and jeans too. Parang regular day at school lang, he he he.

After the ceremony we had dinner at Sun Fortune restaurant, a Chinese restaurant near U of M. And I spilled Coke on my dress while eating. D:

About the grad, it’s funny because we got some guides from the student union, and during the ceremonies I spent solving those find-the-word puzzles included in there. And I got free pen with that too. More »

Errands Day

I made sure I did some of my errands for the day since I barely have time to do them. Kanina pumunta ako sa Passport Office to apply for my Canadian passport. I woke up late (supposedly 10 ng umaga ako dapat aalis, pero nagising ako 10 na, he he!), pero hindi naman talaga dapat magmadali. I managed to prepare and leave the house by 10:45, tapos diretso na ako sa office. Madali lang namang hanapin kasi sa Main Street lang naman. Pagdating ko dun akala ko may pila, pero wala! I was client 94, at pagkaabot na pagkaabot sa akin ng number biglang nag-blink na yung number dun sa screen! Tinawag ako agad, he he! I submitted my papers, tapos may mga questions na binigay. Mga 10 minutes tapos na agad, at may $87 na nalagas sa aking account, he he!

Ang mahal pala magbayad ng passport. Pero now that I think about it, I feel grown up kasi ako na nag-asikaso ng papers ko. More »

Honey and Clover (ハチミツとクローバー)

Despite of its departure to the canon (although not that much, and I can pretty much understand why; after all they only have 11 episodes), Honey and Clover is undeniably the best tear-jerking, mind-provoking and inspiring drama ever.

How could this world be a breeding ground of hate?

Before I started my shift at work yesterday afternoon, I came across this article published by the Globe and Mail:

Xenophobic rage explodes in South Africa
Stephanie Nolen

A wave of horrifying violence has swept the townships around Johannesburg in the past five days. At least 22 people are dead, hundreds injured and an estimated 4,000 have been left homeless, most of them refugees and immigrants from other African countries.

The sudden eruption of xenophobic savagery has forced South Africans into a moment of uncomfortable self-reckoning, as the newspapers and TV screens fill with images of ethnic-based brutality of a kind not seen since the darkest days of apartheid, and considered part of the past in this country, which fancies itself to be Africa’s beacon of democracy and tolerance. [link]

I cannot believe that such acts of cruelty towards someone else actually exist.

Confirmed!

It’s confirmed! I’m marching on the 29th for my convocation! And I’m graduand number 190. Ha ha!

Day Off

Sa wakas, nagka-day off din after an 11-straight day shift from my two p/t jobs! Intense eh! So yesterday I went out with Tristan and Lem to get a breather. We went to Pancake House for a heavy brunch, and then we walked to Jubilee to visit Bridge Drive-In (my second time; Tristan’s first), and then went to Grant Park to check out McNally Robinson and then went to watch Iron Man. Si Tristan napanood na niya yun so nag-solo flight siya at nanood ng Made of Honor, he he! More photos under the cut. More »

Senior Recap

Senior Year. My last year (hopefully!) at the university. I was planning to write this entry a day after my convocation, but I decided that that celebration deserves its own separate entry. So now while things are still a bit fresh from my memory I will try to re-cap what happened over the past year. More »

Iron Man

Iron Man (2008)
What I like in this film is Tony Spark (Robert Downey, Jr.), he he. Also the witty lines in the film, plus the SFX. But being annoying people (Lem and I), we just giggled and noticed a lot of things about the film while we watched it yesterday. I guess one of the most noticeable boo-boos in the film was when the arc exploded and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Palthrow) didn’t die in the explosion. I mean, as soon as she hit the red emergency button, she hid UNDER the arc, and the goddamn thing exploded! And Lem and I were wondering, “Did she die?” Our question was answered when we saw that Pepper Potts helped Tony Spark prepare for his press conference. :))

Although this film is not lame even though it’s a superhero film. Not one of the best though. I didn’t like the fighting sequence when the Iron Monger and Iron Man fought in the streets. Didn’t get the omph feeling, unlike when I watched Transformers.

Dance Dance Dance

One of the reasons why I don’t have a favorite author is because I think that authors tend to reach a “low point” in their career and produce works that aren’t as good as their previous ones.

Reading Murakami’s Dance Dance Dance is a good example. I like Murakami’s works in general because he managed (consciously or unconsciously; whether he denies it or not) to combine Western aspects of literature to Japanese ones. Now that I get more familiar with his characters, I think what attracts me more to his works in general is the idea that he has intellectual, and to some extent, idealist characters/protagonist. It’s not much about the “wasakan ng utak” that walrus from Peyups.Com refers to (I don’t even see his works as “wasakan ng utak”, really, but anyway I digress), but mostly because his characters think too much. These aspects of his characters’ personalities make me draw near to them but at the same time it make me feel detached to them. In that way, I admire Murakami for creating “real” people for I believe that human beings are complex creatures that we cannot be compartmentalized in certain personality categories. More »

The Files of Young Kindaichi 2 (金田一少年の事件簿 2)

Finished watching season two of Kindaichi Shounen no Jikenbo. Of course the cases focus more on murders pero I really liked how the stories were executed. I also like the romance part between Kindaichi and Miyuki here. Kamukha ni Domoto si Sakurai Sho (and considering that pareho silang Johnny’s performers, this is quite amusing). I also like the humor in this show. Medyo creepy nga lang yung stories, although it’s creepier than the third season (with Matsumoto Jun, another Johnny’s). Siguro dahil na rin dun sa quality ng videos, medyo luma kasi.