I went to school so that I could assist the organizers of the exhibit at Festival Mall in bringing the robot there. I’ve been walking around the campus going to different offices just to acquire the exit permit needed. When we were on our way to Alabang, we were stucked in the middle of the heavy traffic (picture this: a bumper-to-bumper situation where the vehicle would only move at 1 meter every 30 seconds or so). I just slept inside and when I woke up, we were still at South Super Highway, a kilometer away from Bicutan Exit.
Upon arriving at Filinvest, Alabang, the theses were brought inside. The theses will be enclosed by an acrylic glass and videos will be provided. The theses will stay there for two weeks.
At home, I finished the template for the company website of my Dad, new layout and new site navigation. It will be launched soon by the time it is uploaded.

Our thesis will be exhibited at the Fantasy Science, an educational exhibit which is recommended for all ages. It is organized by Mary Lindbert International, the same organizers behind the Wax Museum. The exact location of the exhibit is near the Pixie Forest (3rd floor, Festival Mall). There is an entrance fee worth 160 pesos. I asked at the Ticketing Office if there will be discounts for students and she said that there will be no discounts.
We will be setting up the robot at the location on Monday afternoon. I hope to see some familiar faces there. Hehe.

Course Cards were distributed just yesterday and so, professionalism is expected to be observed by the professors. Many in our batch our graduating this term. Some made it while others did not. The “others” would of course plead for mercy to their professors and reason out that they are graduating and such and that it is only in his/her subject that they failed. They would likely ask for a special project or a removal exam. But then again, this is college, not High School. Welcome to the real world. College is not the world where anybody can just tame their professors by just giving them a look in the face like that of Puss in Boots in Shrek 2. One should expect that he/she would never get a passing grade in an instant.

If you do not graduate because you flunked one of your subjects, then it is not the fault of your professor. It is the result of your actions. In college, most professors won’t mind if you are graduating or not. What you deserve is what you should get. Also, it would be really unfair for others who strived hard in passing the subject.
I know that it is a bitter experience for not being able to graduate just because of one failing mark. However, that experience should be a wake up call to you. It should remind you that you should not be over-confident and that you should make it up by studying harder.
And to the just professors, I salute you.

We were encouraged by our department chair to join the 2004 National Inventor Contest. The category that we will be joining is the Outstanding Student Creative Research which is known as the Sibol Award. Sibol Award is open to both High School and College students.
Deadline for submitting the requirements is on September 15. The finalists will be notified before the exhibit date and the finalists will be given the chance to exhibit their working prototypes. The National Inventors Week will be held at the Philippine Trade Training Center (PTTC) on November 11 to November 15, 2004.

Upon arrving at school, me and my thesismate went to the Faculty to look for our panel chair so that he could sign our Defense Approval Sheet. After signing it, he said:

Panel Chair: Napili yung thesis nyo na i-exhibit sa Festival Mall. Pag-usapan natin yung details bukas.

After he closed the door, surprise and excitement filled the air. I was not expecting something like this. In fact, I was expecting that the other group will be chosen. I felt honored and at the same time it was a humbling experience. I remembered one time when we were demonstrating our thesis to the visitor, the robot did not go to the spot where we specified it. Of course there is a scientific explanation for that.
As I walked the corridor of Velasco, I said to my thesismate:

Karla: Yes! Gagraduate na tayoooooh!!! Woohoooo!!! (louder than my normal voice but not loud to be heard at the whole 2nd floor of Velasco)

I almost jumped for joy. With the completion of signatures, I felt like a champion carrying an invisible trophy. The real trophy for this hard work is our diploma, which we will be receiving a month after the commencement exercises. And this is dedicated to God, my family and friends, to our mentor (our thesis adviser) who has helped us and supported us all throughout, and to all of you reading this.

As I have said a few days ago, our panelists told us to do something to improve our accuracy up to 50 percent. And that means, almost doubling the 29 percent accuracy rate achieved. Finally, hard work has really paid off when our accuracy rate increased to 64 percent which is higher than the target percentage.
It was very rewarding indeed. Now, I’m just waiting for my thesismates to send the data so that I could revise what is supposed to be revised. Hehe.

An hour before the thesis defense, my heartbeat went faster. And on that duration, I was practicing for our presentation. Then, our thesis coordinator saw us preparing and she joked,

Thesis Coordinator: Sa tingin ko, 90 percent na ikaw ang magprepresent (referring to our thesismate).
Groupmate1: Wag naman kayo magsalita ng ganyan miss (grinning and nervous at the same time)
Me and other thesismates: Hahaha!

We walked inside the room as if we are in the regional trial court waiting for the dramatic entrance of the three judges (our panelists) and our attorney (our thesis adviser). The panelists were then completed. Afterwards, I was about to speak but one of the panelists pointed to our thesismate (Groupmate 1) signalling that he should be the one to present. While he was presenting, our thesis adviser came to the rescue by adding some extra information. After a few minutes, our thesis adviser went out with one of the panelists.
The presentation ended and only two panelists were left. As the question and answer portion started, one panelist said.

Panelist 1: Halikayo may papakita ako sa inyo.

Then he showed to us a page on the draft of our thesis containing tallies of the word ayun made by our thesismate. The panelist added,

Panelist 1: Andami nun ah. 213 na ayun!

We all laughed after the panelist said it. After the question and answer portion, there was still no sign of Panelist 2. Thus, we waited for him until he arrived. Afterwhich, the deliberation has started. It’s as if they were giving a court ruling and our thesis adviser was there to defend us. After a long deliberation, the verdict was:

Minor Revisions only. Additional data for Robot Error Measurement. See if you could still improve the accuracy of the system implemented.

At long last, we were relieved after the long wait. All the 8pm-adjourns, the 530-am-print-until-there-is-no-more-ink, the weight-lifting-of-laptop, among others are definitely worthwhile.

And yes, our thesis group is like a basketball team. Our thesis adviser is our playing coach. He certainly plays good. A great rebounder, good in assists, a shooter, a blocker and most of all, great in defense tactics. We owe it all to him.

Have you ever felt pressured because of the fact that the whole world depends on you? As of this moment, yes I feel somewhat pressured. I am pressured not to make a mistake on our final defense tomorrow. I feel that they are so confident in me thinking that I will be able to present our thesis with so much ease.
Tomorrow will be the longest one hour of our lives. And I just hope that at the very start of that hour, low pressure will be induced so that the confidence level will be high.
Please pray for a good outcome for our final defense tomorrow.