#activity3.1

Nearly 2 months have passed and I can surely assure you that things have changed a lot. It is not what I expected when I was at senior high. I guess I'm one of those lucky ones who got a good schedule; I have A LOT of free time; Activities do not normally rain on us; that's how lucky of us. But when activities do pour, it's a hell week.

This week — week of our 2nd monthsary, is our midterm examination. Proper time management to balance studying and relaxing would now be the 1st priority to keep our confidence, faith, and our heads up. Studying only matters if at the end of the day you learn from it. So relax, have your own pace, make sure you learn, do not just read, listen, see, look, or anything, be one with your mind.

         Did I forget to mention I was supposed to be Second Year College now? Yes that is right, as I mentioned in my first entry, I am an architecture student, but not anymore at this moment. You may be wondering why, since you are here reading another entry for my blog. You may also be wondering what course did I shifted to, don’t worry ill share it you, just hang in there.  

         First of all, I believe that no course is easy in College, most of the people say it, and I genuinely believe it. Let’s talk first about Architecture, Architecture is one of the toughest course, I can say as also being one who experienced it. Most of days we draw, and draw, and draw, it’s an endless cycle of doing plates. Most of the nights in a week are being poured to doing plates, sometimes or rather frequently we don’t sleep for a day or two. Yes it is tiring, it is tough and it’s really difficult to explain in details.

         That reality knocked me off real hard; I admit to myself that I wasn’t expecting it to be what it is. I really can’t tell what is wrong or what could’ve I have done too supplement all my shortcomings. Is it because of the pandemic? How about the deafening silence of the inevitable depleting social interactions in the four corners of my room? Is it because I am incapable, dumb and irresponsible? I honestly can’t tell you exactly why, but do you know what I am certain of? That there is no one to blame nor anything to point to rather than myself. It is what it is; it happened there is nothing I can do about it. It is too late now to think deeply and find the blame to consolidate my ego, anxiety and guilt will just consume me if I’ll stay and think the same way.  

         Is shifting to another course hard or heavy? The answer is yes, and the hardest part of it all is overthinking that everything that flashes your mind. For me during that time is I am afraid, afraid of what my parents would think that I wasted almost a year in my studies. Guilt and anxiety will definitely haunt your mind and it will be here for maybe for a long, long time. Self-doubt will reign over you and could deteriorate every light that could shine. It will be an experience that will remain a mark down deep in my soul.

         Even the process of shifting is stressful enough, thankfully I made it here in the College of Engineering but the path is steep and has a lot of frustrations and confusions. I was delayed for a couple of weeks in my first weeks in Computer which I’ll tell more details on my next entry.

               A leap from High school to College has just struck me just a few months before the classes’ starts. A delay of reaction indeed, it was a mix of diverse of emotions flowing into my mind. I was excited; I am definitely looking forward to it but at the same time it was nerve wracking.

              The only thing I prayed during that time is to be qualified to the university that I want. That is WMSU (Western Mindanao State University), that moment I think that the weight of my world relied on the entrance test. To be in or to be not will definitely impact me considerably. Luckily, with the grace of God I made it in, I am so happy. That moment my sense tells me that all my worries will wear away, or so I thought.

              Naïve, inexperienced, and fresh I took the path to the new chapter of my life. I was supposed to enroll in the college of civil engineering, but due to unforeseen unfortunate circumstances I wasn’t able to proceed on my original plan. Instead, I was admitted to College of Architecture. At first everything is fine, everyone is clueless, and there are a lot of new faces. Bit by bit, I made friends with some, most of them are very cool and we all get along really well.

               In terms of studying, I am not quite sure if this is because of the ongoing pandemic, but for me, studying is tougher taking new normal classes in college. It is nothing compared to my life when I am studying my senior years in high school. College has tons of workloads and time is lesser with any other things. It was really overwhelming and my mind and body was caught off guard, I wasn’t expecting it to be like that. The worst part is interactions are not the same; I really miss the days of having to experience long trips going to school, talking to classmates personally, the laughter and other sort of emotions that usually fills every single day.  

It only makes sense, a sort of natural progression, that amongst all the innovations that the internet piles unto itself, "learning" and personalisation come to the web in order for us to better obtain the content we want or may develop an interest in.

Of the sites visited above, I'd said I've visited maybe 10 or so, yet heard of or recognise more. 

Of those 10m I use the following regularly: Youtube, Facebok, Gmail, Wikipedia and Digg.

Youtube is great for desired video content, during it's initial stages short of a decade ago, it was good for interesting self published content, but there was little else on it. Now, you can almost find anything! Recently a friend and I were in my house downtown in Bathurst- left only with a iPhone and an Apple TV connected to a plasma- we were easily able to watch the entirety of Jackie Brown for free and in good quality! Incredible considering how little tech we had and the time of night it was.

Facebook off course has ingratiated itself as THE necessary social tool, especially amongst our generation. Whilst the use of the phone has not diminished (but rather gotten stronger as our phones have become more versatile), Facebook allows us to both sate our social needs, contact whomever we wish and organise our social activities without additional cost. 

Gmail I use predominately as my professional and organisational email, the idea being my potential employers, university emails and linkedin profile are fed here. It also deals with fines, notifications and communique with companies I deal with, I don't tend use my gmail account to sign up to web services-that honour is reserved for my Microsoft LIVE email. 

Wikipedia is among my favourite sources of information-whilst it still draws ire for being freely editable by anyone, thus it's authenticity is called into question, there is no doubt that the site is well maintained and thorough on nearly everything you could search for-more obscure topics tend to lack information or referencing, but the same could be said of any information source regarding those topics. Absolutely essential for obtaining basic information on a topic before researching further, just make sure to check references!

My use of Digg is not as you'd expect. I do not have a Digg account, nor do I have a habit of using Digg for it's intended purpose. Digg is the site I use when I need answers or opinions on something that a formal search may not yield. It is oft Digg appears under a google query with the answer I need, though sometimes I will go there myself for answers.

I think the most important part of both Web 2.0 and 3.0 is the more personable and social nature of the way the internet now functions. The advent of social and dynamic information makes for a more compelling experience, whereas during the late 90's and very early 00's the internet was not as compelling for me, there's no question I would spend hours upon it, viewing anything from message boards to flash based games and entertainment.

But now it's a powerful tool, it's entirely possible to organise one's social obligations and desires via Facebook and similar services, knowledge is easily acquired and built upon.  Responses now come quick and fast and conversation that occurs a speed close to our normal interaction allows us to socialise efficiently and enjoyably without being in each others presence.

But most of all I enjoy the new tailoring, Web 3.0 and the Semantic Web have made the internet a little more autonomous but in a completely alluring fashion. I'm sure many of you can relate to surfing Youtube strictly off related or recommended videos, perhaps subscribing to a user and going through their videos? Facebook also us to browse and add friends easily through recommendations, without taking us away from what we're presently viewing. It's this kind of intelligent yet ancillary behaviour allows us to gather interesting content for individualised for us easily and without divergence. This has the two fold effect of providing us with desired content and increasing our rate of information consumption considerably.

I will oft find myself choosing to sit on youtube watching engaging content rather than downloading a Television show or playing a video game, browsing through documentary maker VICE's collection and watching anything from Cannibal Liberian Warlords to Islamic Transsexuals in Indonesia.

Representation of modern Youtube with Semantic Web features

Sourced from Youtube.com, copyright Youtube