Sem-end, Part 5: Sunflowers

Passing along the University Avenue the past few weeks, I have witnessed the growth of the sunflowers planted along the road. These are supposed to be gifts from U.P. Diliman's sister campus in Los Banos where the seeds are kept and cared for from the time they are harvested from their sources from the same University Avenue until the time when they are planted weeks before the university commencement rites.

The sunflowers have become indicators of when graduation time is at the university. The time of planting the seeds is scheduled and the plants are nurtured so that they will be in full bloom once the various recognition rites of the different colleges and the university's commencement exercises are held. I have faint or no memory of these sunflowers the two times I graduated from the university - the first time for my undergrad degree and the second time for my MS, both in Civil Engineering. Yet, I have come to appreciate their symbolism come graduation day.

One modern theory goes the way of the popular game Plants vs. Zombies. In this theory, the sunflowers are supposed to provide the power (sun) necessary to vanquish zombies, who happen to be brainless and are determined to eat one's brains. The storyline is actually very relevant to graduates of the country' premier university as they must not succumb to the real-life manifestations of zombies, who probably won't be satisfied with just your brain (or mind) but would also want your soul.

The sunflowers have become popular attractions to families looking for photo ops during graduation day so much so that one can usually see cars stopped along the avenue with their occupants posing beside the rows of sunflowers. It is indeed a good photo-op that even non-graduates and visitors of the university stop to take photos of the sunflowers. I am sure that these will again be a favorite subject to aspiring, amateur and professional photographers alike once the flowers are in full bloom. Perhaps I will be among those who will take a few choice shots of the sunflowers for posterity.

Below is a shot taken by the Clairvoyant last year using her Blackberry phone.

Cool April

We've been experiencing unusually cool weather in late March and early April in Manila. I have no memory of when this last occurred but I'm pretty sure that this time of year it is usually already hot and humid not just in Manila but in other parts of the country as well. The exception seems to be the eastern regions of the country like Samar and Leyte in the Visayas and Agusan and Surigao in Mindanao where rains are typical in March. Those areas, however, have received a tremendous amount of precipitation that for them is unusual this time of year. In fact, Tacloban City in Leyte was flooded last month after continuous downpours in the province.

Meanwhile, there was little or no rain in Metro Manila. Instead, it was usually nice and sunny although on occasion there were some cloudy or gloomy days. But it was cool and breezy especially in the mornings and evenings so it was quite comfortable the past days. I am sure a lot of people took advantage of the nice weather by going outdoors or traveling to other parts of the country where it is even cooler like Tagaytay in Cavite or Baguio in Benguet. I was recently in Tagaytay and the weather there is perfect for families, barkadas or even lovers or honeymooners.

In the university, where the environment is conducive to outdoor activities, there have been increasing numbers of walkers, joggers, cyclists and others preferring to play or picnic in the many open areas in the campus. These areas include the Sunken Garden, the Lagoon and the Track & Field facilities in UP Diliman. I also took advantage of the cool weather by jogging regularly and enjoying the cool evening breeze.

I won't delve into the science of this cool weather we have been experiencing. But I'm sure this is partly explained by the arrival of spring in the northern parts of the globe, particularly in Siberia where the cold air eventually descends to Japan, Taiwan and then to the Philippines. This usually occurs in March but seldom does it continue until April. Thus, I am also quite sure that the temporary respite from the impending summer heat will soon pass. Until then, I shall enjoy the cool mornings and evenings and perhaps think about getting away on some trip once the heat finally arrives. To the beach perhaps? Or maybe a retreat to Singapore.

Sem-end, Part 4: Batchmates

I was reminded by an old friend of how long it's been since graduation. Since we've been classmates and batchmates in both our undergraduate and graduate years, I usually remember first the last time we graduated, 1995. That was when we graduated with our M.S. degrees in Civil Engineering and almost 16 years to the day this April. 1995 was also 2 years later than when we graduated in 1993, obtaining our B.S. in Civil Engineering, with few doing it within the 5 year period that is prescribed for the Civil Engineering program at U.P.

Some who graduated in 1993 eventually left the country, with some even electing to have careers outside of Civil Engineering. One of them was Emmanuel "Noel" Siscar, who dabbled in computers and is now living with his family in the U.S. Another classmate is now based in Saipan and there are other batchmates from the Class of 1993 who are now in the Middle East. One batchmate is now a high ranking officer with the Philippine Army Corps of Engineers, having graduated from the Philippine Military Academy prior to studying at U.P.

Some of us opted to continue on with graduate work and eventually joined the University. That included our topnotcher, Karl Vergel (BSCE 93 cum laude), who left for Japan that same year to pursue his Master's at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. Three of us, Crispin Diaz, Noriel Tiglao and me, remained and got a scholarship to pursue our Master's at U.P. where we were joined by other fresh graduates from other Philippine universities including one Alex Ladaga, who graduated magna cum laude from Mindanao State University, and another Frederick Mangubat, who also graduated magna cum laude but from the University of San Jose-Recoletos in Cebu City.

I have not accounted for many of our batchmates from 1993 though I have reconnected with some of them via Facebook. Some probably prefer to remain in obscurity as we certainly haven't heard about them or their work/accomplishments. There are also few who attend the alumni homecomings organized by the U.P. Alumni Engineers and the same thing with the centennial reunion organized by the Institute of Civil Engineering last year. It's been 18 years since we graduated and we will be Silver Jubilarians in a few years time. As they say, time flies and 7 years may just be a wink of an eye if we're not paying much attention. Perhaps we'll have our batch reunion then and hopefully, there will be many of us to get reacquainted with.