The Midterms
2 weeks. In that span of time, I felt I aged faster, lol. It’s a stressful yet challenging part of the college journey that I should look forward to often, for the next four years, or more if I failed some subject. We had our midterm exams, which pretty much explains why I didn’t have the time to browse on Hive and publish something. Although I really want to write, I can’t afford to take a piece of time off my already hectic academic schedule. Plus, I am not a fan of multitasking since I easily get distracted. Did you experience a situation where you’re doing something, but your mind is thinking about something else, and as a result, you can’t do both things properly? I don’t know if I am the only one, but I still prefer doing something one by one.
Anyways, I spend the last two weeks meeting several deadlines, reading and reviewing my notes from our lectures, and practicing programming. The weight and pressure of this examination are much heavier compared back then because I know that this is already part of my career. I am already dealing with the future me, and I must work hard to give myself a lift of confidence to face the challenges of a working adult. Another thing is if I didn’t take this seriously, this might slow down my progress, especially since I took college a bit late compared to my peers.
Going back, we have a three-day midterm examination, each day composed of 2 subjects. On the first day, I left home earlier to avoid getting late especially since I received reports that the local transport system around my university is having difficulty accommodating the high volume of students. The reports are right, and luckily, I reached my destination with still 30 minutes allowance. I was nervous and excited at that moment because this is my first time taking this kind of exam, and I still don’t know if this was a level-up version of the normal examination, I used to take during high school so sorry for the ignorance, lol.
On the second day, I took my two major subjects which are Introduction to Computing and Fundamentals of Programming. Despite the slight dizziness, I had experienced maybe due to my lack of sleep, I still tried my best to reach my university early. I am prepared with the questions, so I am quite confident that I will pass them and maybe get higher results.
While the third day of the exam was canceled because the local government announced a class suspension due to the incoming weather disturbance. The continuation of the class will probably be on November 3 since October 31 to November 1 is declared a National Holiday and we don’t have any class schedule during Wednesday (Nov. 2). There’s a part of me that screams in joy because I can finally have a rest and create a draft for Hive. However, knowing that I still have one subject left, I can’t totally celebrate and pretend that everything is already done. There’s still this uneasy feeling or what we call ‘tinik sa dibdib’ in Filipino that continues on banging my inside telling me to prepare and study more. Well, I am not listening to that. I deserve some rest.
The Typhoon
October 29, the day when I should be attending my school was shifted to preparing for the upcoming typhoon. Typhoon signal number 3 was already raised to our place which means we should expect winds ranging from 121 to 170 kph for the next 18 hours. Power outages are already expected so we charged our devices and stored some gallons of clean water. Okay, some of you may ask why we need to store some water. Well, our subdivision has its own water tank that is powered by an electric pump machine. So, if there’s a power interruption, water interruption will follow. We have an experience where we didn’t have enough supply of water and the water interruption lasted for a week. Our place is in a dystopian scenario where people are already chaotic, running towards the water source, fighting and snatching each other’s container, and other worse stuff. Never again.
I kept myself updated with the latest track of the typhoon. There are several occasions where the direction of the cyclone will suddenly change and that always left people surprised and unprepared. Since several weather models say that the typhoon track may directly hit the Metro Manila- CALABARZON area, I kept on informing my parents to prepare.
At around 3 pm, although the winds are not yet strong, we had already lost electricity. This left me bored for several hours with nothing much to do but just browse the internet using my slow mobile internet connection, which is also affected by the bad weather.
5 pm to 7 pm is the peak of the strong winds that keep me disturbed and bothered. I am hoping that the electrical post won't fall down because it will surely take days before the power goes back. Luckily, we don’t live in a low-lying and hazard-prone area where the dangers of landslides and floods are present.
The surroundings started to calm, and around 2 am the next day, the electricity went back. We immediately watched the news and check social media for updates. I was disheartened seeing the aftermath of the typhoon. The destruction especially on Bacoor, Cavite was unbearable. The flashfloods already reached second-floor houses, people screaming for help, — TRIGGER WARNING — and I also read a post where they saw a child getting carried away by the strong current of the flood water and a man getting electrocuted. In this situation, I am thinking about why our local government seems unprepared for what happened. People should’ve been evacuated earlier, and rescuers should’ve been placed beforehand. Remulla at Revilla ano na?
If you have extra resources, you can donate to one of these donation drives.
Angat Buhay
https://web.facebook.com/angatbuhaypilipinas/posts/141538001962128
Central Student Government – Cavite State University-Main Campus
https://web.facebook.com/sandeuraang/posts/5683283538373644
That will be all for now. See you around!