A blow-by-blow account on how I presented at the NIGSCON 2011

Yesterday I was such in a panic as I haven't finished my presentation for this morning's colloquium. But because of God's grace, I was able to finish it, be on time for my talk, and deliver it with confidence and authority.

At first I was very anxious, nervous, and my heart was palpitating like crazy! I wasn't able to rehearse what I would say! As I was browsing my slides, I was going very fast, like all the information I knew just escaped my mind. Then I stopped and thought to myself, "patay! pa'no na 'to???" When Doc Caloy was finishing his talk, I braced myself and thought that this will just be 15 minutes of shame. Let's go Edz!

Okay so I was introduced by Chloe a.k.a. Mark Clutario. Nakakatawa pa kasi sabi niya, "the next presentation will be on... to be presented by Edz Mendoza" Ano ba yan hindi man lang full name ko, haha! So I was introduced and my mind kept racing on how to open my talk. Fortunately, as I grabbed the microphone, everything just started flowing out of my mouth. Tuluy-tuloy! Ibang klase, kahit ako nagugulat as I was elucidating on my study. Sumobra pa nga ako sa 15 minutes! Masyado ata akong nag-enjoy sa kakasalita, ang daldal kasi e, haha!

Almost halfway into my presentation, my adviser, Dr. Sandra Catane, arrived. I saw her from my eye's peripheral and I got disoriented for a second! Alam mo yung feeling pag dumating yung crush mo? Yung kikiligin ka? Eto baliktad, matatakot ka! Hahahaha! Parang yung facial expression ko, "oops, oh no..." Haha! But the show must go on. I calmly expressed all the information that I wanted to convey, maintained eye contact with the audience, doing moderate hand gestures, and reaching out/walking/pacing about in front, a la Steve Jobs when discussing. Hahaha feelingera naman ako. I felt confident all of a sudden. Natuwa ako kasi yung conclusions data ko have made connections with my conclusions! And accurate naman sila and precise! So yun, nakakatuwa. I also received good questions after my talk. Same questions that we were asking ourselves din about my thesis. All in all it was good! And to think I did this only the day BEFORE the presentation.

This paper of mine has traveled extensively, one in Asia and two in Europe. Sayang walang US. And I think three sa Pilipinas. Before, the data I had was scarce so it was easy to draw conclusions about it. But now, my data is so robust, that a lot of it has to be weaved carefully to make a coherent conclusion. Ibang klase. Ang dami mong kailangang pagsama-samahin, habi-habiin. Kaya mega nataranta ako nung Nov. 9! Fortunately, it came out successfully. And I owe it all to God. :) Maraming salamat, Lord. :)

Nakakatuwa pa after the talk, JD Dianala, who felt and saw my worried soul before presenting told me my presentation was good! It's as if I wasn't panicking at all! :) That made me happy. What made me happier, Ma'am Sandra commented, "pwede ka na nga magdefend ng thesis mo e." My soul swelled into a bright light. I felt inspired to write my thesis after this. But to Lemony Snicket's joy, my inspiration left as quick as it came. Sigh.

I'll be doing a penalty course this AY 2012-2013 for exceeding five years in my graduate studies. Huhuhu. So much for that inspiration. Should I present again for me to be inspired? Hmm...

Original music CDs on sale + Drylite towel

I happen to come across a music CD sale at Odyssey Alabang one weekend and I browsed through their selection. There were a number of good CDs, the most expensive was at P200! So you can just imagine some discs were cheap as P99 and P150. I saw a two hundred pesos Mariah Carey Greatest Hits CD. I decided to buy it perhaps on a later time within the day as I thought of conserving my money until I can buy what I NEEDED to buy that day. I also saw some Joshua Bell, Lenka, Usher, Broadway Musical compilations (my friend Bettina would love that) and other music CDs.

And so I went around Alabang Town Center, met up with Martin and we ate at this modern/pop/hip Japanese resto, I have forgotten the name, which we found no so good to eat in. After which we went around again, I bought a towel at the The North Face store, a highly usable towel for someone like me who's  always on the go. It's light. It's absorbent. It dries quickly. And when it folds inside your luggage, it's so small it can fit into a small pouch. A really must-have for a travelling junkie. It's the Sea-to-Summit Drylite microfiber towel. You can get it in various sizes, I got myself the large (P1,190) because I want it to cover my body but truthfully, the medium is enough as it can already dry your hair and body well.

Anyway going back to the CD, when I came back to Odyssey to finally buy the MC Greatest Hits CD, it was already sold! Nyek! I shouldn't have let it go the first time I saw it, it was only one copy. Unfortunately, fate wouldn't let me have it. Instead, I bought the Joshua Bell: At Home with Friends and Herbie Hancock: The Imagine Project discs, both at P99. I didn't consider the MC disc a loss until I heard the Bell and Hancock CDs. It was amazing. It's not your typical mainstream music, that's why I like it. It was a good mix of classical and jazz music, the latter being my most favorite music genre of all. Feels so good listening to it. I'm so happy I was able to acquire it for a song. :)