The Akashic Field Chronicle

Talk about taking a break from blogging . My last post (five months ago), optimistically entitled “Thesis Sprint”, turned out to be one of the longest, most drawn out sprints that was ever done in the history of “figurative” racing. Maybe marathon (kudos to Wil) would have been a better term. Nah. It was more like a walkathon, crawlathon, stop-to-catch-my-breathaton,(check-my-facebookathon!).

Anyway, it wasn’t until July 13th, that I actually successfully defended my MS thesis (Yey!). I still have a few document revisions before I can truly say that I’m finally done. Still, the hardest part’s over. Thank God. I learned a valuable lesson (I think):

Lesson 1: Don’t ever be too sure of yourself and your abilities.

You never know how things will actually turn out. In other words: “Huwag magsalita ng tapos”.

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In other news, I have been accepted to UCLA‘s PhD program in Electrical Engineering (Yey!). Which is actually not news anymore to almost anyone who knows me. Still, I haven’t mentioned it in this blog and I think it deserves at least a short announcement here, seeing as it will adversely affect my life from this point on. This would also hopefully lead to 1 less item on my top 10 list.

This truly was a fortunate blessing which even now, is still a pleasant surprise to me. After applying to 5 universities and being rejected from 4 of them, I really believe that there was someone/something greater than me at work here. Funny how I didn’t even have UCLA on my list of schools to apply to initially. It was a suggestion from my MS thesis adviser which I added to the list just because GeorgiaTech’s application asked way to many questions and I was lazy.

Lesson 2: Things always have a way of working out in the end, sometimes even better than what you planned for. The important thing is to never stop trying.

And with full financial support for the entire first year… God truly makes a way. If anyone reading this lives even remotely close to the Westwood area of LA, drop me a line so we can meet up once I’m there.

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In other other news, my TAship (teaching associate) at the Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute (EEEI) of UP Diliman has also officially ended last May. So technically, I’m a bum right now. I do have some things lined up keeping me busy (and hopefully keep me earning) in the time remaining before Fall term starts on September.

This means my teaching career is temporary on hold right now. I do however still plan to teach once I get my Ph.D. or maybe even a little bit in UCLA as a TA. It’s hard to convince people that I plan to go back and teach (what with the high paying jobs abroad, especialy for those with advance degrees), but I will. My word on it.

My TA experience certainly deserves its very own blog post (or two), so I wont make this one longer than it already is. So here’s my third and last lesson:

Lesson 3: If you really love what you do, you’ll never have to work a day in your life.

And teaching certainly is what I love to do. That’s about all I can say about the past five months. There’s obviously a lot more to say but after that long an absence its hard to start writing again. Wish me luck and please pray for me on my biggest adventure yet.