I attended a Luzon-wide KASAMA sa UP (Kasapian ng mga Sangguniang Mag-aaral sa UP) Congress in Baguio this weekend. It was my first time in Baguio in more than five years. It was also my first time to attend a KASAMA sa UP assembly (though attendance was limited to representatives from the five UP units in Luzon; Diliman, Manila, Los Banos, Pampanga, Baguio). Interesting that I finally get to attend a KASAMA sa UP assembly when I’m no longer a member of the Mass Comm Student Council (which is a member of the alliance). I came as a representative of STAND-UP, with my colleague Che.

We left Manila late Friday night, after attending Hiyas ng Arki, a male cross-dress pageant (similar to Miss Eng’g) in the College of Architecture, where oddly, I was invited to be one of the judges. Anyway, we arrived in Baguio early morning of Saturday.

I’ll write about the rest of my thoughts and chronicles in another entry.

We held a protest action Tuesday last week (August 21) as we continue to demand for the junking of the Tuition and Other Fee Increases imposed on all incoming UP students starting this year. Despite the long five-day “holiday” preceding it and minimal publicity, around a hundred students gathered in the lobby of Palma Hall to join the protest. A snake rally around the halls of AS was held afterwards.

Tisay will be turning two years in a little more than a month. We’ve already trained her to say her name and her age. She says “two,” however, whenever she’s asked “how old are you?” We’ve prepared her a month early, see. Hehe. She can now verbally express a few words and can now answer formula questions among other such tricks for babies. It’s adorable.

I attended the regular family lunch at Emerald Garden last Saturday. I’m not a talker within the extended family, as I rarely engage in the elders’ conversations, nor with my female cousins’ affairs, nor with my nieces and my younger cousin’s conversations. I have, however, come to look forward to this gatherings. The company of the family itself is something I’ve just recently learned to appreciate and value. It gives me that unique and warm feeling of security and comfort.

I have mixed feelings with the string of suspension of classes the past days. I wouldn’t mind taking a break from school routines, which I’ve realized, because of all the affiliations I get myself into, consist more of extra-academic duties. On that note, let me just share that there are times when I feel like I’m not in UP to study anymore but to perform my roles and duties in my orgs, in my frat and in my political party. Attending classes and fulfilling academic requirements become a side line. If my day in school is a pie chart, attending classes and studying does not even eat close to half. I just try to console myself that as long as I keep my cum laude-standing average till March, I’m okay. Again, this goes back to what I said about myself being unable to say no.

Last Wednesday, my brods and I pushed through with our courtesy call with the campus’ Vice Chancellor despite the rains and the suspension of classes. The usual pleasantries transpired. It can feel quite odd for me though, whenever we talk about, say, campus policies which, I, together with my political affiliation, don’t agree with and I end up submitting to the courteous nods and smiles instead of engaging our dear vice chancellor in lengthier discussions.

This, by the way, came a month after our courtesy call with the University President.

May 30, 2007. After having a hearty breakfast at the apartment, Aunt Lydia took us to Muir Woods a few hours drive north of San Francisco. We passed by San Francisco proper on the way there. It was the first time we actually got to San Francisco itself. It was really chilly, in fact, much cooler than the temperature in Atlanta and New York.

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May 29, 2007. We woke up very early the next day. That was around half past three in the morning, if my memory serves me right. The airport shuttle picked us up form the hotel at five in the morning. Driving through Manhattan in the wee hours of the morning can be quite a sight. It’s an image of NYC not quite as depicted in American movies and literature as images of NYC as full of life and activities.

We got to JFK Airport’s domestic terminal less than an hour later. We were quite early, actually. Most of the shops and other facilities were still closed.

After a few hours, we finally got to board our Delta Airlines flight to San Francisco. It was a boring five-hour flight. In-flight entertainment had a separate charge. And worse, they only served us peanuts.

By the time we got to San Francisco International Airport, I felt quite disoriented as it was another time zone adjustment. Checking out of the airport was quite quick. We waited for a while at the terminal for Aunt Lydia to pick us up. She would be our most generous host for the next two weeks in California.

It was hours past lunch time already, so after picking us up, we went to see one of Aunt Lydia and my mom’s acquaintances in South San Francisco, who treated us to lunch at a Japanese restaurant in Millbrae, a few minutes drive away.

On a side note, I found it quite amusing that it was much colder in this part of California, than it was in Georgia or in New York. In fact, it gets much colder when we get to San Francisco proper itself a few days later.

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May 28, 2007. After doing the tourist ritual of going up the Empire State Building, my parents did a little shopping along Fifth Street. While they were shopping, I went out to walk around the block to take some pictures and to leisurely watch pedestrians and other tourists go about their own things.

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A month or so ago, news broke of suspicious surveillance being conducted with a certain and specified van with plate number UDU 234 on students of UP Diliman, particularly on students of the College of Mass Communication. Various instances of the van’s suspicious activities (parking near informal student gatherings/assemblies, following or parking near locations of student activists) on different parts of the Diliman campus have been reported over the months. The CMC Student Council and a couple of organizations in Mass Comm went on to have a press conference condemning such surveillance in light of the fresh implementation of the Human Security Act.

Last Tuesday, we saw the particular van with dark-tinted windows, with plate number UDU 234 parked on the driveway of Vinzons Hall–the seat of the University Student Council, the Student Regent and a traditional tambayan of activists. Together with some of my colleagues and Shan Abdulwahid, present Chairperson of the University Student Council, we approached the van with the intention of confronting the persons inside.

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