There's No Place Like Here

I'm reading again, for fun. Yay!

I like to read, but I like to read for fun. I used to collect Sweet Valley books then Love Stories then progressed to Harry Potter and Candace Bushnell novels. When I read other than for school, I reach for something that's a light read. Yes, chick lit. And quoting Randy: "I will not be judged."

However, law school sucked out all the fun out of reading, even chick lit. I felt like if I pick a book, I have to highlight it. Or skim through it very quickly and prepare for recitation. You get the idea. Apart from the occasional Harry Potter (I digress: I finished Book 7 only a couple of months ago! Gah.), I rarely read anything non-law-book.

Thankfully I'm out of school and need something to get my mind off the dreary folders I read at work. So I've started checking out the chick lit section of bookstores again. Last Holy Week, I tagged along DA's weekly NBS jaunt and picked up two pocketbooks.

One was "There's No Place Like Here" by Cecelia Ahern. I was intrigued with the synopsis, it was about a girl who was quite obsessive-compulsive about finding missing/lost things. When she was younger, she would upturn their entire house just to locate a missing sock. Then she grew up to be a missing-persons investigator. I bought it because I could be OC about locating my missing stuff and I thought I could very well relate with her.

Howeverrrrr... the book kinda scared me. Because the missing-persons investigator went missing, too. I would read it alone in the apartment before going to sleep. At one point, I put the book down and told myself I will only read the book in the morning.

It was that haunting. I was that scared. So much for chick lit. But I love it! :D

Image from: http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Theres-No-Place-Like-Here/Cecelia-Ahern/e/9780641957963

Pigar Pigar Festival

Since I already missed the Gilon-Gilon, for the first time in years, I was glad we could attend the Pigar-Pigar Festival.

Pigar Pigar is a dish usually served in Galvan Street and in the market of Dagupan at 10 pm onwards. It is likened to beef steak. I have never tried it, for I rarely go out at night in Dagupan. I prefer to sleep in, hehe.

Galvan Street

So, we went. Galvan Street was closed to traffic. There were stalls and tables set up. Since there were many people, it took a while before we were served, and the rice was served last, so the beef was already a bit tough. And the stall ran out of soup. Luckily, we were out of there when it started to rain.

Pigar Pigar

I think I should try it again. People say it's really delish, especially when you're drunk, heehee. Anyway, the important thing is I had fun, it was a nice way of bonding with my siblings. :)

Siblings do the Pigar Pigar Festival

More pictures here.

Gradwayshen

Took another leave from work to attend my sister's graduation. I am beginning to suspect that my family expects me to come home not because they miss me but because they need a photographer, heehee! Drama-rama aside, sister no. 4 J graduated with an HRM degree.

It was a long and hot ceremony: we were up at 6amish, at the venue at 730ish then managed to enter the stadium at 9AM! Gaaah.Why? Because HRM grads were the last to enter, trailing 800+ nursing grads.

The 800+ grads of nursing. Someone's bored.

Congrats, J! Welcome to the real world!

xoxo,
G

Easter Shoes and Pictures

Anna left a comment in my previous post, saying that she's excited to see the pictures I took over the long vacation.

Uhm, the only pictures I took worth sharing are these of my Easter Shoes:

Pardon the sight of my, uhm, carpals. :P

I stayed in most of the time since coming home on Saturday. I only left home to eat out with the family, hear Mass or shop for groceries. Black Saturday, I spied these red flats for P199.95 and bought them immediately. Wore them first to Easter Mass. No road trip for me, my parents don't like us to travel during the Holy Week eh. I may have an upcoming trip in a couple of weeks and I promise to take pictures. :)

All this stuff about taking pictures is making me feel bad about missing this year's Bangus Festival parades. The first one is on the 15th, the second on the 27th. Both are workdays. Sigh. Darating pa naman si Marian and Dingdong. :P

I'll be missing shots like these:

:P

I've been consoling myself with our Masskara 2008 vid:

6 Things That Make Me Happy

Tagged by EIC Frances. Way flattered that she thinks I'm "inspiring". :D This is called the "6 Things That Make Me Happy Tag." According to the rules, the things should be unimportant.

Here are the rules:

* Mention the person who tagged you.
* List 6 unimportant things that make you happy.
* Tag 6 blogs, state the rules and notify them with a teeny comment on their blog.

Here goes:

1. Internet - I could surf all day every day. I Google up anything and everything.

2. Gadgets that work - Such a nerd na ba ako? :D I cuss like crazy when my gadgets don't work. Kaya nga I have a gadget - to make my life easier, not to make me stay up all night backing up data and reformatting. Boo.

3. Green mangoes and sauteed alamang - My perception of alamang is the shrimp paste, not the brown liquid. Here, we call the brown liquid bagoong. I got disoriented when I got to Manila and people kept saying bagoong but served the shrimp paste. Anyhoo, this is eternal bliss. And I will eat some in a while. Yay!

4. A picture/shot that doesn't need much editing - It means my point-and-shoot philosophy to taking pictures worked yet again! :)

5. America's Next Top Model - Because while I was waiting for the Bar results, this show kept me sane. That time, ETC was showing reruns from Season 1 onwards. Nobody could touch the tv and the remote control every 1130am. Love the clothes, love the pictures, love the drama!

6. Bacon - Bacon is love.

Tagging: Daye, Macka, Anna, Elvin, Myla and Kat.

Eto Kami Noon...

1,289 or 22.91% of examinees pass bar exams
By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 15:47:00 03/29/2008


Filed Under: Education, Board Exams

MANILA, Philippines -- A total of 1,289 have passed the 2007 bar examinations, the Supreme Court announced on Saturday afternoon, making for a 22.91 percent passing rate as 5,626 law graduates from 109 law schools took the bar examinations September last year.

Ateneo de Manila University law graduate Mercedita L. Ona topped the tests with an average score of 83.55 percent. Jennifer Ong of the University of the Philippines in Diliman followed at 83.35 percent.

The 22.91-percent passing rate for the 2007 bar would have been much lower, perhaps an all-time low of 5 percent, had the passing rate not been adjusted from the traditional 75 percent to 70 percent.

"Due to unusually strict corrections, it was decided to lower the passing grade to 70 percent," Associate Justice Adolf Azcuna said in a press conference.

Azcuna, chairman of the 2007 Bar Committee, said the committee had to adjust the passing grade from 75 to 70 percent on three subjects -- Civil Law, Criminal Law, and Social Legislation -- otherwise only five percent of 5,626 examinees will have made it.

He added that the committee also decided to lower the disqualification rate on Labor and Civil Law from 50 to 45 percent.

The Supreme Court associate justice said the passing grade was lowered before but it was not clearly known what prompted it then.

Under the Rules of Court, a bar examinee is deemed to have passed if he obtains a general average of 75 percent in all subjects without falling below 50 percent in any subject.

The subjects and their corresponding weights are as follows: Remedial Law, 20 percent; Political and International Law, 15 percent; Mercantile Law, 15 percent; Civil Law, 15 percent; Labor and Social Legislation, 10 percent; Taxation, 10 percent; Criminal Law, 10 percent; and Legal Ethics and Practical Exercises, 5 percent.

Azcuna also said Associate Justices Consuelo Ynares-Santiago, Conchita Carpio-Morales, and Presbiterio Velasco inhibited themselves during the deliberations prior to the announcement of the results.

Oathtaking of the successful candidates will be on April 29 at the Philippine International Convention Center.

Associate Justice Dante Tinga will head the next bar examination committee.

The number of examinees last year is smaller than the 6,345 who took the tests in 2006.

Since 2000, the highest percentage of bar passers was seen in 2001, where the passing rate was 32.89 percent. This corresponded to 1,266 passers out of 3,849 examinees.

But the biggest number of actual passers since 2000 was recorded in 2006, when 1,893 out of 6,187 passed, or 30.60 percent of the total.

The lowest percentage of passers since 2000 was recorded in 2002, when only 19.68 percent passed.

Last year, the high court began implementing the "five-strike" rule, which disqualifies five-time flunkers from taking future bar exams.

Source: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080329-127183/1289-pass-bar-exams

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