"Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you."
The above passage is from the Gospel according to Matthew. It was the Gospel for 17 March 2011 ─ the same day the results of the 2010 Bar Examinations came out. I think it was at that point of the Mass when I was finally able to relax, after being a nervous wreck since the day the Supreme Court announced to the public that the results are finally coming out. The premature greetings on Facebook, while sincerely appreciated for the posters' confidence in us, certainly did nothing to help.
All the eight people from my block who took the exams last September passed. After five long years of shared pain and agony, I honestly believe that we were all rooting for each other from the time we finished law school until the day we saw our names published at the SC website. I cannot remember being with a group of people who are as genuinely happy and proud for one another as we all were that day. We share this happiness and pride with our other blockmates who will take the country's first MCQ Bar Exams this November, and who we trust will feel as delirious some time next year as we did last Thursday.
Amen.
Showing posts with label Unlawful Aggression. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Unlawful Aggression. Show all posts
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Welcome to Hell
When the LAE results came out last week, various public fora were once again flooded with questions about life at Malcolm Hall. For the most part, upperclassmen and alumni are more than willing to accomodate the incoming victims' freshmen's questions, if only to reassure them this early, that everything will be ok.
I am reposting a part of an entry in the old LSG blog from way back. From what little I remember from that first year in law school, this should more than sufficiently sum up what every freshman needs to know in order to survive his first year in UP Law.
---
Dear Scaebolah,
I’m depressed. Ever since I got into law school I rarely see my old college buddies, and my girlfriend is starting to think we’re growing apart. I think it’s because of all these readings. Please help!
Blue Frosh
Dear Blue Frosh,
Have you not read The Great Message Inscribed in Marble? You’re here to be great lawyers, not happy, well-adjusted ones. Hello!?! Expresio unius est exclusio alterius. If you wanted to stay socially functional, you should have just taken an M.A..
The law school is here to fashion you to into a minister of law, praying for litigation. But until then, as far as your professors are concerned, you are the lowest possible life form.
Take to heart the ideal that you have to strive for. The lawyer is a priest of justice (In re Thatcher, 80 Ohio St. Rep., 492, 669), bound to uphold the dignity and authority of the law. Or, in case you want to be a judge or justice someday, this is how you must be:
"A man of learning who spends tirelessly the weary hours after midnight acquainting himself with the great body of traditions and the learning of the law.
A man who bears himself in his community with friends but without familiars; almost lonely, devoting himself exclusively to the most exacting mistress that man ever had, the law as a profession in its highest reaches where he not only interprets the law but applies it, fearing neither friend nor foe, fearing only one thing in the world — that in a moment of abstraction, or due to human weakness, he may in fact commit some error and fail to do justice. That is the judge." (Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War of the United States of America during World War I, quoted in GEORGE A. MALCOLM, Legal and Judicial Ethics, 1949 ed., 200.)
What does the above text say? First, you have to be a man (sorry ladies). Second, you have to be studying late at night, not worrying about whether or not you’ll get some bumping and grinding with your girlfriend (chances are, you guys won’t last until the end of the year anyway). So deal.
My advice is to make do with your blockmates as your temporary barkada substitute. Or do what I did during my first semester: I named my stacks of readings, painted a face on each of them, and hanged out with them all sem. I had so much fun, and to this day they’re still my friends.
Yours,
Scaebolah
Dear Scaebolah,
Do my professors care about me? I mean, as a person?
Afraid
Dear Afraid,
Hahaha! What a hoot! The answer should be obvious. :P
LOL,
Scaebolah
I am reposting a part of an entry in the old LSG blog from way back. From what little I remember from that first year in law school, this should more than sufficiently sum up what every freshman needs to know in order to survive his first year in UP Law.
---
Dear Scaebolah,
I’m depressed. Ever since I got into law school I rarely see my old college buddies, and my girlfriend is starting to think we’re growing apart. I think it’s because of all these readings. Please help!
Blue Frosh
Dear Blue Frosh,
Have you not read The Great Message Inscribed in Marble? You’re here to be great lawyers, not happy, well-adjusted ones. Hello!?! Expresio unius est exclusio alterius. If you wanted to stay socially functional, you should have just taken an M.A..
The law school is here to fashion you to into a minister of law, praying for litigation. But until then, as far as your professors are concerned, you are the lowest possible life form.
Take to heart the ideal that you have to strive for. The lawyer is a priest of justice (In re Thatcher, 80 Ohio St. Rep., 492, 669), bound to uphold the dignity and authority of the law. Or, in case you want to be a judge or justice someday, this is how you must be:
"A man of learning who spends tirelessly the weary hours after midnight acquainting himself with the great body of traditions and the learning of the law.
A man who bears himself in his community with friends but without familiars; almost lonely, devoting himself exclusively to the most exacting mistress that man ever had, the law as a profession in its highest reaches where he not only interprets the law but applies it, fearing neither friend nor foe, fearing only one thing in the world — that in a moment of abstraction, or due to human weakness, he may in fact commit some error and fail to do justice. That is the judge." (Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War of the United States of America during World War I, quoted in GEORGE A. MALCOLM, Legal and Judicial Ethics, 1949 ed., 200.)
What does the above text say? First, you have to be a man (sorry ladies). Second, you have to be studying late at night, not worrying about whether or not you’ll get some bumping and grinding with your girlfriend (chances are, you guys won’t last until the end of the year anyway). So deal.
My advice is to make do with your blockmates as your temporary barkada substitute. Or do what I did during my first semester: I named my stacks of readings, painted a face on each of them, and hanged out with them all sem. I had so much fun, and to this day they’re still my friends.
Yours,
Scaebolah
Dear Scaebolah,
Do my professors care about me? I mean, as a person?
Afraid
Dear Afraid,
Hahaha! What a hoot! The answer should be obvious. :P
LOL,
Scaebolah
Tuesday, February 08, 2011
Blah
This site has been dormant lately in large part because of the sudden rise in popularity of microblogging sites, where you can rant and rave in 140 characters or less. Most of what I wanted to say made it to Facebook and I just did not have enough motivation to post longer versions of the same thing here.
Anyway, I also do not have a lot of things to rant about these days. Granted that I actually have more time in my hands right now, the absolute absence of any law school-induced stress also resulted in much less interesting things to write about. And work? Work has been relatively stress-free for me for the past few years. I think I have reached the stage where I have my job down pat.
Nevertheless, IF everything works out well, I will have a new job by April or May. I will start at an entry-level position, with significantly less pay, knowing absolutely nothing about what I am about to do. (I would like to think I know something about it, but no. Not really.) Yet somehow, I find myself excited at the proposition. The funny thing is this is not even the first time I am doing this.
But hopefully, this would be the last. I don't think I still have enough time to make another career change in the next few years.
See you in the dark side.
Anyway, I also do not have a lot of things to rant about these days. Granted that I actually have more time in my hands right now, the absolute absence of any law school-induced stress also resulted in much less interesting things to write about. And work? Work has been relatively stress-free for me for the past few years. I think I have reached the stage where I have my job down pat.
Nevertheless, IF everything works out well, I will have a new job by April or May. I will start at an entry-level position, with significantly less pay, knowing absolutely nothing about what I am about to do. (I would like to think I know something about it, but no. Not really.) Yet somehow, I find myself excited at the proposition. The funny thing is this is not even the first time I am doing this.
But hopefully, this would be the last. I don't think I still have enough time to make another career change in the next few years.
See you in the dark side.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Fine, Fine Time
Whoever at Nike decided to print only 150 Ateneo three-peat championship shirts is an absolute idiot. Either that, or he has developed an aversion to making money. In any case, it feels good to refer to that asshole, whoever he may be, as an absolute idiot. Almost therapeutic, even.
Look. Those 150 shirts would not even be enough for all the resident-students of Eliazo Hall alone. That is how dumb that decision is. That a demand for this shirt was artificially created is obvious - there is not enough supply even for the residents of the smallest dormitory in campus. It's like providing a slice of cake to a convention of supermodels the day before the apocalypse.
* * *
Of course, by now everyone knows that the blue birds from Loyola Heights won the UAAP men's basketball championship yet again, making them champions for three years running. This year, like last year, the cows from Morayta were favored to win it all, for good reason. The cows had two players who are members of the national basketball team. They had the eventual MVP and ROY. The birds, on the other hand, lost three players to graduation. All three players ended up being picked in the PBA draft, two of whom were picked first and second overall.
After the Game 1 blowout, there were suggestions of game-fixing. So, I will take this opportunity to confess. Yes, I bribed the entire crayola squad to play like shit that day. That is the only way I can ensure a 23-point blowout. Pay off every single soul wearing a yellow and green jersey. Having only the MVP in your pocket just doesn't cut it.
This explains why I almost had no more budget for the second game. Beavis almost refused to lose the game until funds were transfered just before he took three free throws at the endgame. He missed two, setting up Buenafe's shot of a lifetime on the other end.
If you believe any of that, then you must be someone from Nike who thinks that printing only 150 shirts for the most rabid basketball fans in the country is a cool thing.
* * *
I was lucky enough to watch most of the first round games, and some of the second round games live - including both games against the pepsters. The first round game was already won, before one player decided to lose the game all by himself. The second round game was pure, unadulterated pleasure. It was a game that was over by the middle of the first quarter.
Which is very much like the first game of the finals, which I watched from the comfort of a hotel room near Taft. I am still hoping that that would be the last time I would spend a night at that hotel. I watched the second game from Upper Box A, in the same section where an elated Jumbo Escueta later climbed up to moments after the final buzzer.
* * *
Speaking of the apocalypse, another moron decided to ruin some otherwise promising lives one afternoon in Manila, by throwing a fragmentation grenade at a huge throng of people in a celebratory mood. Over 40 people were injured, including a sophomore law student who had to lose both legs because of the senseless act of an idiot who could very well be the living argument that abortion should be legalized. I will forever be in awe of the courage shown by Ms. Raissa Laurel after the incident.
Look. Those 150 shirts would not even be enough for all the resident-students of Eliazo Hall alone. That is how dumb that decision is. That a demand for this shirt was artificially created is obvious - there is not enough supply even for the residents of the smallest dormitory in campus. It's like providing a slice of cake to a convention of supermodels the day before the apocalypse.
* * *
Of course, by now everyone knows that the blue birds from Loyola Heights won the UAAP men's basketball championship yet again, making them champions for three years running. This year, like last year, the cows from Morayta were favored to win it all, for good reason. The cows had two players who are members of the national basketball team. They had the eventual MVP and ROY. The birds, on the other hand, lost three players to graduation. All three players ended up being picked in the PBA draft, two of whom were picked first and second overall.
After the Game 1 blowout, there were suggestions of game-fixing. So, I will take this opportunity to confess. Yes, I bribed the entire crayola squad to play like shit that day. That is the only way I can ensure a 23-point blowout. Pay off every single soul wearing a yellow and green jersey. Having only the MVP in your pocket just doesn't cut it.
This explains why I almost had no more budget for the second game. Beavis almost refused to lose the game until funds were transfered just before he took three free throws at the endgame. He missed two, setting up Buenafe's shot of a lifetime on the other end.
If you believe any of that, then you must be someone from Nike who thinks that printing only 150 shirts for the most rabid basketball fans in the country is a cool thing.
* * *
I was lucky enough to watch most of the first round games, and some of the second round games live - including both games against the pepsters. The first round game was already won, before one player decided to lose the game all by himself. The second round game was pure, unadulterated pleasure. It was a game that was over by the middle of the first quarter.
Which is very much like the first game of the finals, which I watched from the comfort of a hotel room near Taft. I am still hoping that that would be the last time I would spend a night at that hotel. I watched the second game from Upper Box A, in the same section where an elated Jumbo Escueta later climbed up to moments after the final buzzer.
* * *
Speaking of the apocalypse, another moron decided to ruin some otherwise promising lives one afternoon in Manila, by throwing a fragmentation grenade at a huge throng of people in a celebratory mood. Over 40 people were injured, including a sophomore law student who had to lose both legs because of the senseless act of an idiot who could very well be the living argument that abortion should be legalized. I will forever be in awe of the courage shown by Ms. Raissa Laurel after the incident.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Sa Wakas
Kay tagal ko nang naghintay at nagsunog ng kilay
Ngayon ay masasabi ko na matamis ang tagumpay
- verse written by some students, c. 1994
The grade for PIL, from the first semester, came in last. Exactly one hundred thirty three units. All accounted for. So, unless somebody over at the OCS made a really horrible mistake, I should be able to add two more nice letters to my name by the end of next week. (Those two letters should be in the right order. If you mix them up, you just end up as someone behind a turntable mixing sounds for those who are colloquially referred to as "party people".)
I went to Diliman yesterday for the first time after taking Tax finals, to fill up some forms, and to pay, for the requisite clearance and the application for copies of the TOR. It was not weird, but it was different. For instance, I went inside Room 107 to leave papers for the lucky girl who inherited my cases, and I did that without cursing under my breath or wanting to leave immediately. Those are the thoughts that ordinarily overwhelm you every time you do that. At the same time. I also had to get a visitor's pass to enter the library. I entered that place every day for five years just by making small talk with the guard. I later left the Twilight Zone and went with two blockmates to the alumni hostel to get a "loose piece of clothing that is put on the shoulder" that we are supposed to wear next week. Apparently, it should be worn over something else.
I would probably miss all the things that made my evenings quite different for the past five years. In fact, I was already staying late at work and not leaving the office at 4:00 PM as early as last October (or the end of the first semester), since I only had classes on Saturdays during the second semester. I was already spending more time online at home, and less time searching for stuff on Lawphil at [Section 17, Article III, 1987 Constitution]. Actually, I am going miss it all. Just not now. Right now, I am just grateful and delirious that I do not have to do any of that ever again.
Next.
Ngayon ay masasabi ko na matamis ang tagumpay
- verse written by some students, c. 1994
The grade for PIL, from the first semester, came in last. Exactly one hundred thirty three units. All accounted for. So, unless somebody over at the OCS made a really horrible mistake, I should be able to add two more nice letters to my name by the end of next week. (Those two letters should be in the right order. If you mix them up, you just end up as someone behind a turntable mixing sounds for those who are colloquially referred to as "party people".)
I went to Diliman yesterday for the first time after taking Tax finals, to fill up some forms, and to pay, for the requisite clearance and the application for copies of the TOR. It was not weird, but it was different. For instance, I went inside Room 107 to leave papers for the lucky girl who inherited my cases, and I did that without cursing under my breath or wanting to leave immediately. Those are the thoughts that ordinarily overwhelm you every time you do that. At the same time. I also had to get a visitor's pass to enter the library. I entered that place every day for five years just by making small talk with the guard. I later left the Twilight Zone and went with two blockmates to the alumni hostel to get a "loose piece of clothing that is put on the shoulder" that we are supposed to wear next week. Apparently, it should be worn over something else.
I would probably miss all the things that made my evenings quite different for the past five years. In fact, I was already staying late at work and not leaving the office at 4:00 PM as early as last October (or the end of the first semester), since I only had classes on Saturdays during the second semester. I was already spending more time online at home, and less time searching for stuff on Lawphil at [Section 17, Article III, 1987 Constitution]. Actually, I am going miss it all. Just not now. Right now, I am just grateful and delirious that I do not have to do any of that ever again.
Next.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Hope Springs Eternal, Again
"I find I'm so excited, I can barely sit still or hold a thought in my head. I think it's the excitement only a free man can feel, a free man at the start of a long journey whose conclusion is uncertain. I hope I can make it across the border. I hope to see my friend and shake his hand. I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams. I hope."
- Red, The Shawshank Redemption
After I submitted what hopefully was the last blue book I will ever submit in my life last Saturday, I also hopefully finished Tax 2 and hopefully said goodbye to five long years of cramming for night classes after work, photocopying boxes of cases half of which I probably tried to read at least once, grasping for answers out of thin air during recits, writing down answers legibly, or at least mumbling them, for your reciting seatmate to see or hear. (Disclaimer: I actually still have to submit a portion of an arbitral award, but I just need a working computer to do that.) Five long years were spent looking for the perfect reviewer after an all-too imperfect semester, surviving final exams, waiting for grades, removing conditional failures, and bidding - yes, bidding - for subjects. We also spent some time counseling (presumably) indigent litigants, representing them before courts of (presumably) justice, and experiencing firsthand how (presumptously) a law firm should not be run.
Hopefully, they are all over, and hopefully, I will not have to do any of those things ever again.
- Red, The Shawshank Redemption
After I submitted what hopefully was the last blue book I will ever submit in my life last Saturday, I also hopefully finished Tax 2 and hopefully said goodbye to five long years of cramming for night classes after work, photocopying boxes of cases half of which I probably tried to read at least once, grasping for answers out of thin air during recits, writing down answers legibly, or at least mumbling them, for your reciting seatmate to see or hear. (Disclaimer: I actually still have to submit a portion of an arbitral award, but I just need a working computer to do that.) Five long years were spent looking for the perfect reviewer after an all-too imperfect semester, surviving final exams, waiting for grades, removing conditional failures, and bidding - yes, bidding - for subjects. We also spent some time counseling (presumably) indigent litigants, representing them before courts of (presumably) justice, and experiencing firsthand how (presumptously) a law firm should not be run.
Hopefully, they are all over, and hopefully, I will not have to do any of those things ever again.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Push Button to Eject
A little over nine months after I first entered a courtroom, to make my first appearance before a judge, in my very first case, the client calls and tells me that they received a copy of the decision ordering the adverse party to vacate the property.
Like I said elsewhere, the outcome of the case had everything to do with the contents of the killer position paper, and had absolutely nothing to do with its page formatting. Of course, it also helps if the opposing counsel does not appear to know what he is talking about in his position paper.
I won my first case. Whatever happens for the rest of my life, I can now always say that with a straight face.
Like I said elsewhere, the outcome of the case had everything to do with the contents of the killer position paper, and had absolutely nothing to do with its page formatting. Of course, it also helps if the opposing counsel does not appear to know what he is talking about in his position paper.
I won my first case. Whatever happens for the rest of my life, I can now always say that with a straight face.
Friday, January 15, 2010
The Homestretch
I have started to count the Fridays and Saturdays off the calendar. Hopefully, in a few more weeks, I can already see the so-called light at the end of this cursed tunnel. It is so close, you can almost taste it.
I have been away from college for more than 10 years now, and I can still recall, with fondness, my days and nights there. Right now, I think I will leave this place (Hopefully. Soon.) with no fondness, except for the remarkable people who made all those years a little bit more tolerable. Of course, things are significantly different in college, the most significant difference being in college, the only thing I had to do was to go to class and pass. That is it. Everything else took care of itself.
(One other thing, is that I don't think my professors in college really went out of their way to really inflict moral damages upon my person. But, of course, one can also argue that it is the method at work.)
Anyway, I have finally started working on the paper. Hopefully, I will be able to finish it on time. I have been religiously attending the elective subject, and so far, it looks like that's all I have to do to get out of it in one piece. The one remaining major subject was supposed to be a 3-unit subject, and it was, until the professor decided that we are not suffering enough, so we now all go to class one hour earlier. "Room 1408," of course, is still one of the seven portals to hell.
By the end of March, I would have already submitted an ejectment case for decision and obtained a final settlement of an award from the NLRC, in a case that has dragged on since my classmates were still in grade school. Hopefully, I would also be able to ask a court to reset a hearing in a case for slander. To May.
Speaking of "Room 1408," is it just me or the old hags just decided to be a wee bit more maniacal? Look, I have been working for more than 14 years and I already had four different jobs in two different countries during that span. I have never, ever, seen a working environment worse than this hellhole pretending to be an office. And that is putting it mildly.
Anyway, I hope everything goes as planned. My sanity cannot afford to stay in that place one day longer than I have to. Besides, I already paid my old college more money for a five-month course, than I ever had in all my four previous years there, combined.
And it is non-refundable.
I have been away from college for more than 10 years now, and I can still recall, with fondness, my days and nights there. Right now, I think I will leave this place (Hopefully. Soon.) with no fondness, except for the remarkable people who made all those years a little bit more tolerable. Of course, things are significantly different in college, the most significant difference being in college, the only thing I had to do was to go to class and pass. That is it. Everything else took care of itself.
(One other thing, is that I don't think my professors in college really went out of their way to really inflict moral damages upon my person. But, of course, one can also argue that it is the method at work.)
Anyway, I have finally started working on the paper. Hopefully, I will be able to finish it on time. I have been religiously attending the elective subject, and so far, it looks like that's all I have to do to get out of it in one piece. The one remaining major subject was supposed to be a 3-unit subject, and it was, until the professor decided that we are not suffering enough, so we now all go to class one hour earlier. "Room 1408," of course, is still one of the seven portals to hell.
By the end of March, I would have already submitted an ejectment case for decision and obtained a final settlement of an award from the NLRC, in a case that has dragged on since my classmates were still in grade school. Hopefully, I would also be able to ask a court to reset a hearing in a case for slander. To May.
Speaking of "Room 1408," is it just me or the old hags just decided to be a wee bit more maniacal? Look, I have been working for more than 14 years and I already had four different jobs in two different countries during that span. I have never, ever, seen a working environment worse than this hellhole pretending to be an office. And that is putting it mildly.
Anyway, I hope everything goes as planned. My sanity cannot afford to stay in that place one day longer than I have to. Besides, I already paid my old college more money for a five-month course, than I ever had in all my four previous years there, combined.
And it is non-refundable.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Room 107
It's an evil fucking room.
- Gerald Olin, 1408
There's a sofa, a writing desk, faux antique armoire, floral wallpaper. Carpet's unremarkable except for a stain beneath a thrift-store painting of a schooner lost at sea. The work is done in the predictably dull fashion of Currier and Ives. The second painting is of an old woman reading bedtime stories - a Whistler knockoff - to a group of deranged children while another Madonna and child watch from the background. It does have the vague air of menace. The third and final, painfully dull painting, the ever popular "The Hunt". Horses, hounds and constipated British lords. Some smartass spoke about the banality of evil. If that's true, then we're in the 7th circle of hell.
- Mike Enslin, 1408
You can choose to repeat this hour over and over again, or you can take advantage of our express checkout system.
- Room 1408, 1408
Enjoy your stay.
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
Dear Miss Manners
Q: X, at the pain of sounding demanding, is this correct - i bid 225 points for friday am ola and still got thursday am!? :(
A: hi Y,Z also has a similar problem. But I think we can work it out - OLA was one of the subjects which wasn't part of the required class demand survey the ARC and STRAW released a couple of weeks back. With a class demand survey kasi, we'll be able to find out before hand how many slots we should allocate per section. For OLA, since this didn't happen, Prof. A just estimated that there'll be about 115 students taking OLA (and this 115 will be divided by the 10 teams). Pero after the run was conducted, nalaman namin na about 7 or 8 students and hindi nabigyan ng slots. This means that the admin underestimated the demand for OLA. Prof. A was ready to make arrangements for the 7 or 8 students when we realized this problem earlier tonight. But I suggest that you send him an email na rin at [email] just so he knows. But I can help talk to Prof. A about this during reg. Pakipaaalala lang sa akin.thanks,- X
But, of course, it wasn't because they underestimated the demand. It was because the program they were using had so many bugs in it, you could have asked your local pest exterminator to clean it up.
The 225 points that Y bid above turned out to be the second-highest bid for the section. Y, along with the person who bid the highest bid (at 238) were "waterfalled" to another section, while the person with the third-highest bid (201) did not get a slot at all. Meanwhile, people who bid 90 and 60 points got the slots. So, how the fuck did this happen?
Presumably, in their desire to "improve" the registration process, and perhaps the performance of the college in general, they decided to implement new rules during registration (subject, of course, to new rules which were later implemented as they went along their merry way). Some of these are: that "crossovers" between day and evening sections will no longer be allowed and, that day students have priority over evening students on day subjects and vice versa.
When every single evening student who bid for the same subject got squat regardless of the number of points bid, you don't need to look at the source code to see that the system fucked up. Electives and OLA sections were all classified as "day" subjects, in effect, putting priority on the bids of day students above those of evening students. The result, as with all programs running with bugs, is garbage.
Given the time constraints and the indefinite requirements given them, I would say that the programmers did a relatively good job. I am assuming that undergraduate students wrote the code. To properly put all this into perspective, consider that undergraduate "machine problems" are usually given one month before the deadline. The requirements should already be clear and well-defined at this time: these requirements are what the programmers will test against. Students, of course, usually start working on these only about two weeks before the deadline. In an ideal situation, the code is tested against all possible scenarios (i.e. a stress test) presented by the requirements before it goes into production. (There is a reason why computer professionals use the word "user" when they mean "idiot".) If you don't, and the program encounters a scenario that it doesn't recognize at run-time, then you are really fucked up. Remember that for software, repair costs increase if they leak downstream - they increase tenfold with each lifecycle phase.
Computer programs are predictable. They will do what you ask them to do. If you, for example, in your sheer genius, decide that a specific set of students get higher priority over another set of students on a specific set of classes, the program will do exactly that. It will not discriminate and will not make any distinction for you. For example, regardless of the fact that day and evening students alike, take OLA and elective subjects on equal footing, the program will not recognize that until you tell it to.
They should have properly tested the program before hoisting it upon an unsuspecting studentry. Next time, they should also publish the results. Meanwhile, I have to hope and pray that I don't have to go through this shit ever again.
A: hi Y,Z also has a similar problem. But I think we can work it out - OLA was one of the subjects which wasn't part of the required class demand survey the ARC and STRAW released a couple of weeks back. With a class demand survey kasi, we'll be able to find out before hand how many slots we should allocate per section. For OLA, since this didn't happen, Prof. A just estimated that there'll be about 115 students taking OLA (and this 115 will be divided by the 10 teams). Pero after the run was conducted, nalaman namin na about 7 or 8 students and hindi nabigyan ng slots. This means that the admin underestimated the demand for OLA. Prof. A was ready to make arrangements for the 7 or 8 students when we realized this problem earlier tonight. But I suggest that you send him an email na rin at [email] just so he knows. But I can help talk to Prof. A about this during reg. Pakipaaalala lang sa akin.thanks,- X
But, of course, it wasn't because they underestimated the demand. It was because the program they were using had so many bugs in it, you could have asked your local pest exterminator to clean it up.
The 225 points that Y bid above turned out to be the second-highest bid for the section. Y, along with the person who bid the highest bid (at 238) were "waterfalled" to another section, while the person with the third-highest bid (201) did not get a slot at all. Meanwhile, people who bid 90 and 60 points got the slots. So, how the fuck did this happen?
Presumably, in their desire to "improve" the registration process, and perhaps the performance of the college in general, they decided to implement new rules during registration (subject, of course, to new rules which were later implemented as they went along their merry way). Some of these are: that "crossovers" between day and evening sections will no longer be allowed and, that day students have priority over evening students on day subjects and vice versa.
When every single evening student who bid for the same subject got squat regardless of the number of points bid, you don't need to look at the source code to see that the system fucked up. Electives and OLA sections were all classified as "day" subjects, in effect, putting priority on the bids of day students above those of evening students. The result, as with all programs running with bugs, is garbage.
Given the time constraints and the indefinite requirements given them, I would say that the programmers did a relatively good job. I am assuming that undergraduate students wrote the code. To properly put all this into perspective, consider that undergraduate "machine problems" are usually given one month before the deadline. The requirements should already be clear and well-defined at this time: these requirements are what the programmers will test against. Students, of course, usually start working on these only about two weeks before the deadline. In an ideal situation, the code is tested against all possible scenarios (i.e. a stress test) presented by the requirements before it goes into production. (There is a reason why computer professionals use the word "user" when they mean "idiot".) If you don't, and the program encounters a scenario that it doesn't recognize at run-time, then you are really fucked up. Remember that for software, repair costs increase if they leak downstream - they increase tenfold with each lifecycle phase.
Computer programs are predictable. They will do what you ask them to do. If you, for example, in your sheer genius, decide that a specific set of students get higher priority over another set of students on a specific set of classes, the program will do exactly that. It will not discriminate and will not make any distinction for you. For example, regardless of the fact that day and evening students alike, take OLA and elective subjects on equal footing, the program will not recognize that until you tell it to.
They should have properly tested the program before hoisting it upon an unsuspecting studentry. Next time, they should also publish the results. Meanwhile, I have to hope and pray that I don't have to go through this shit ever again.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Hope Springs Eternal *
Payment Status: Paid for 1st Semester, 2009-10
Priority: Graduating for 2nd Semester, 2009-10
The past few weeks have been very hectic due, in no small part, to all the slacking I did for the past five months. From the start of June up to the end of October, in what I correctly predicted beforehand as the best semester ever, I barely stayed up late to read any thick, grossly overpriced, hardbound book on various esoteric subjects, written by very old men who are probably full of themselves, if at all.
Of course, I also had the good fortune to find an available slot for PIL under Dean P. before the semester started. Otherwise, it would have been Paracetamol Monday all over again for me. Looking back, I think I am very blessed to have been able to take that course before the college changed the enlistment rules again. Looking forward, you can bet your glutes I am thanking all the gods everywhere that I will be gone before they decide to make it more disorganized than it already is.
Next semester wouldn't be as easy though. For one, we'll be doing internship again, and this time it won't last for just over a month. Nobody I know has ever enjoyed the experience. I will try my best to get the schedule which I think will inflict the least possible amount of pain.
Then there's Tax, which I would have already finished, if last year, they gave priority to "on-curriculum" students and did not give priority to graduating students, and which I would have gotten first dibs this year, if they did not change the rules, did not give priority to "on-curriculum" students and gave priority to graduating students. Trust the best minds in the country to screw the simplest things up.
I also need one more elective, and after being able to get all the best electives offered by the college all these years, this time, I couldn't care less which three-unit elective they give me. In Red's language, I am almost done crawling to freedom through five hundred yards of shit smelling foulness you can't even imagine. I am almost rehabilitated and almost ready to rejoin society.
---
* Subtitle of Stephen King's novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, originally published in Different Seasons.
Priority: Graduating for 2nd Semester, 2009-10
The past few weeks have been very hectic due, in no small part, to all the slacking I did for the past five months. From the start of June up to the end of October, in what I correctly predicted beforehand as the best semester ever, I barely stayed up late to read any thick, grossly overpriced, hardbound book on various esoteric subjects, written by very old men who are probably full of themselves, if at all.
Of course, I also had the good fortune to find an available slot for PIL under Dean P. before the semester started. Otherwise, it would have been Paracetamol Monday all over again for me. Looking back, I think I am very blessed to have been able to take that course before the college changed the enlistment rules again. Looking forward, you can bet your glutes I am thanking all the gods everywhere that I will be gone before they decide to make it more disorganized than it already is.
Next semester wouldn't be as easy though. For one, we'll be doing internship again, and this time it won't last for just over a month. Nobody I know has ever enjoyed the experience. I will try my best to get the schedule which I think will inflict the least possible amount of pain.
Then there's Tax, which I would have already finished, if last year, they gave priority to "on-curriculum" students and did not give priority to graduating students, and which I would have gotten first dibs this year, if they did not change the rules, did not give priority to "on-curriculum" students and gave priority to graduating students. Trust the best minds in the country to screw the simplest things up.
I also need one more elective, and after being able to get all the best electives offered by the college all these years, this time, I couldn't care less which three-unit elective they give me. In Red's language, I am almost done crawling to freedom through five hundred yards of shit smelling foulness you can't even imagine. I am almost rehabilitated and almost ready to rejoin society.
---
* Subtitle of Stephen King's novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption, originally published in Different Seasons.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Nirvana
Only if life at Malcolm has been anything like this for the past four years and change, I wouldn't have suffered all that needless stress. I really think that for some sick reason, all these years, I have been blessed enough to get all the elective subjects I wanted to get - and I really mean all. I probably wouldn't be able to use half of it (just like Calculus), but I will always take useless and easy over useless and fucking difficult any day.
I have been reading all the PIL assignments, which are really reasonable considering what he-who-must-not-be-named assigned to us before, and that they come with specific instructions to read only the relevant parts. You can actually read them anytime before class. In fact, I have been reading them at work before going to Diliman at noon. Sometimes, I read them during Rem class, where you have a good four hours to finish the readings. So far, there has been no pressure at all, because all our magnificent classmates are always prepared to volunteer (Hooray for them!).
As for Rem, all the cases are assigned a priori. Which is exactly how the professor wants it. Since the start of classes, I have read a grand total of four - read them - four cases. Of course, this does not include all the ICJ cases that I have been reading during this period to prepare for the next day's class. Will I regret it someday? I don't know. But I promise to do things differently when we get to Crim Pro and Spec Pro. Those will be somewhat new for me. But I think I can relax again when we get to Evidence.
I also have two other electives with, by my humble standards, very good professors. I have not been called in either class yet, but I can say with a straight face that I have been able to participate in the discussions in one of them. In the other class, let us just say that there are not too many discussions there. However, I can say with reasonable certainty that I will be called to recite in that class someday, and I can intelligently guess, that I will be the 44th person to be called. Call it a hunch.
I have been reading all the PIL assignments, which are really reasonable considering what he-who-must-not-be-named assigned to us before, and that they come with specific instructions to read only the relevant parts. You can actually read them anytime before class. In fact, I have been reading them at work before going to Diliman at noon. Sometimes, I read them during Rem class, where you have a good four hours to finish the readings. So far, there has been no pressure at all, because all our magnificent classmates are always prepared to volunteer (Hooray for them!).
As for Rem, all the cases are assigned a priori. Which is exactly how the professor wants it. Since the start of classes, I have read a grand total of four - read them - four cases. Of course, this does not include all the ICJ cases that I have been reading during this period to prepare for the next day's class. Will I regret it someday? I don't know. But I promise to do things differently when we get to Crim Pro and Spec Pro. Those will be somewhat new for me. But I think I can relax again when we get to Evidence.
I also have two other electives with, by my humble standards, very good professors. I have not been called in either class yet, but I can say with a straight face that I have been able to participate in the discussions in one of them. In the other class, let us just say that there are not too many discussions there. However, I can say with reasonable certainty that I will be called to recite in that class someday, and I can intelligently guess, that I will be the 44th person to be called. Call it a hunch.
Saturday, June 20, 2009
So Far, So Good
Initial returns show that the chances of this semester, ending up as the best semester ever, is not unlikely.
Monday, June 08, 2009
A Few Good Men
After turning over all my crappy cases to the next sorry intern last week, I only need to appear in one more preliminary conference before the MTC in Marikina this week, and summer would officially, mercifully, be done. Next week, I can go back to more mundane, and less stressful, things like cases and recits.
Admittedly, it could have been a lot worse. A blockmate was a wrong word away from being cited for contempt. Another almost became the godmother of her client's child, and almost shelled out money for the christening. The worst that happened to me was paying for a client's photocopying expenses. Everybody should be so lucky. Anyway, I am just happy that nobody got hanged because of me.
Next week, we'll be seeing our old friend PIL, and meeting new acquaintances like SLR, banking, comm'l arb and even not-so-new rem law review. We enlisted in PIL only a week or so after learning about the result of our efforts in PrIL - which would make all of us, either courageous or dumb. All these, after the college implemented a new enlistment system, in a manner that is contrary to every software engineering principle I know.
What a way to start the year. I can't wait to get this over with. Let's get it on.
Admittedly, it could have been a lot worse. A blockmate was a wrong word away from being cited for contempt. Another almost became the godmother of her client's child, and almost shelled out money for the christening. The worst that happened to me was paying for a client's photocopying expenses. Everybody should be so lucky. Anyway, I am just happy that nobody got hanged because of me.
Next week, we'll be seeing our old friend PIL, and meeting new acquaintances like SLR, banking, comm'l arb and even not-so-new rem law review. We enlisted in PIL only a week or so after learning about the result of our efforts in PrIL - which would make all of us, either courageous or dumb. All these, after the college implemented a new enlistment system, in a manner that is contrary to every software engineering principle I know.
What a way to start the year. I can't wait to get this over with. Let's get it on.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
/dev/null
I just realized that it is rather difficult to think of anything to write, the day after you tried, and failed, to recall and write down fifteen different conflict rules. Verbatim.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Sloth
But taken from me was this drowsiness
Suddenly by a people, that behind
Our backs already had come round to us.
And as, of old, Ismenus and Asopus
Beside them saw at night the rush and throng,
If but the Thebans were in need of Bacchus,
So they along that circle curve their step,
From what I saw of those approaching us,
Who by good-will and righteous love are ridden.
Full soon they were upon us, because running
Moved onward all that mighty multitude,
And two in the advance cried out, lamenting,
"Mary in haste unto the mountain ran,
And Caesar, that he might subdue Ilerda,
Thrust at Marseilles, and then ran into Spain."
- Dante, Purgatorio, Canto XVIII
Last Saturday, after the last "t" was crossed and the last "i" was dotted (oh, that is so overused), after the last presumption of good faith was written down, I submitted my blue book and immediately stopped thinking about the Rules of Court. (Can you believe it?) In my own worst-case scenario, it won't be until June when I have to reread them all over again. I went home, picked Weng up, had Korean food at Rockwell, and watched the best film that I have ever seen in years. (I suggest that you all go watch Gran Torino. Now.)
(The new blue book is very much thicker than the old one. I have no idea why they had to do that, since for four years and for more than 30 courses, my answers have managed to exceed the number of pages of the old blue book only once. ONCE. In that one time, I wrote on a grand total of two pages of the second blue book. By the way, did I mention that we only write on one side of the blue book?)
The school holiday today couldn't have been more perfectly timed. After that already very delayed exam last Saturday, I had absolutely no intention of reading anything involving a petitioner anytime soon. So, I watched the Jazz beat the Hornets yesterday morning and played Madden 09 all afternoon. Last night, I watched Warrick Brown get shot and Jack Bauer get arrested. All guilt-free. Having no more Nego for all remaining Tuesdays of the semester doesn't hurt either. Of course, I am totally sticking my head in the sand, and disregarding that big stack of paper on the floor for Wednesday and Thursday. If you're familiar with SC rates and you're good at math, that stack of paper is worth about Php300 from Blessings Copy Center. Come on, go figure.
I brought with me a couple of those cases to work today, but I have already realized that I was just kidding myself when I picked them up from the floor this morning. Maybe Juris and Prudence would have better luck tonight.
Suddenly by a people, that behind
Our backs already had come round to us.
And as, of old, Ismenus and Asopus
Beside them saw at night the rush and throng,
If but the Thebans were in need of Bacchus,
So they along that circle curve their step,
From what I saw of those approaching us,
Who by good-will and righteous love are ridden.
Full soon they were upon us, because running
Moved onward all that mighty multitude,
And two in the advance cried out, lamenting,
"Mary in haste unto the mountain ran,
And Caesar, that he might subdue Ilerda,
Thrust at Marseilles, and then ran into Spain."
- Dante, Purgatorio, Canto XVIII
Last Saturday, after the last "t" was crossed and the last "i" was dotted (oh, that is so overused), after the last presumption of good faith was written down, I submitted my blue book and immediately stopped thinking about the Rules of Court. (Can you believe it?) In my own worst-case scenario, it won't be until June when I have to reread them all over again. I went home, picked Weng up, had Korean food at Rockwell, and watched the best film that I have ever seen in years. (I suggest that you all go watch Gran Torino. Now.)
(The new blue book is very much thicker than the old one. I have no idea why they had to do that, since for four years and for more than 30 courses, my answers have managed to exceed the number of pages of the old blue book only once. ONCE. In that one time, I wrote on a grand total of two pages of the second blue book. By the way, did I mention that we only write on one side of the blue book?)
The school holiday today couldn't have been more perfectly timed. After that already very delayed exam last Saturday, I had absolutely no intention of reading anything involving a petitioner anytime soon. So, I watched the Jazz beat the Hornets yesterday morning and played Madden 09 all afternoon. Last night, I watched Warrick Brown get shot and Jack Bauer get arrested. All guilt-free. Having no more Nego for all remaining Tuesdays of the semester doesn't hurt either. Of course, I am totally sticking my head in the sand, and disregarding that big stack of paper on the floor for Wednesday and Thursday. If you're familiar with SC rates and you're good at math, that stack of paper is worth about Php300 from Blessings Copy Center. Come on, go figure.
I brought with me a couple of those cases to work today, but I have already realized that I was just kidding myself when I picked them up from the floor this morning. Maybe Juris and Prudence would have better luck tonight.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Cooling-Off
I have absolutely nothing to do tonight.
Or, tomorrow night and every single night for the next two weeks, for that matter. There is absolutely nothing that I have to photocopy, highlight, read and/or, God forbid, memorize. There will be no opportunities for other people to inflict moral damages upon my person, and aside from lining up behind total morons in the ATM, there will be no opportunity for me to wish harm to befall, presumably, a fellow human being.
This is probably how drug-induced altered states of consciousness feel like. I know this will not last, but at least, I will be celebrating the holidays on a high - drug-induced or otherwise.
Or, tomorrow night and every single night for the next two weeks, for that matter. There is absolutely nothing that I have to photocopy, highlight, read and/or, God forbid, memorize. There will be no opportunities for other people to inflict moral damages upon my person, and aside from lining up behind total morons in the ATM, there will be no opportunity for me to wish harm to befall, presumably, a fellow human being.
This is probably how drug-induced altered states of consciousness feel like. I know this will not last, but at least, I will be celebrating the holidays on a high - drug-induced or otherwise.
Friday, December 12, 2008
Rehab
"There's not a day goes by I don't feel regret. Not because I'm in here, or because you think I should. I look back on the way I was then: a young, stupid kid who committed that terrible crime. I want to talk to him. I want to try and talk some sense to him, tell him the way things are. But I can't. That kid's long gone and this old man is all that's left. I got to live with that. Rehabilitated? It's just a bullshit word. So you go on and stamp your form, sonny, and stop wasting my time. Because to tell you the truth, I don't give a shit."
- Red, The Shawshank Redemption
- Red, The Shawshank Redemption
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