Okay…
I love Sherlock Holmes! I mean…he’s a cool detective. Unlike the oh-so-popular Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. For me, they’re quite boring. Not the cases, but the characters. I mean, perfect characters are the most uninteresting. Holmes is not boring. He’s a drug addict…was.
Okay. Point is: I watched Sherlock Holmes last (10th December) Sunday. Yeah… It was a good movie. That’s saying something because I haven’t seen one of those in ages. Ninja Assassin was okay… But it lacked story and character development. It was all about the blood, deadly blades and a bad ending.
I love Irene Adler. She’s cunning, resourceful and clever. I know she only appeared in one of the S.H. stories, A Scandal in Bohemia. Okay… Let me say something… Men are stupid when it comes to girls. Look at Phantom of the Opera for one… Raoul and Erik want to kill each other for Christine! Though being a girl, I would be flattered to be in that position. ;-).
Okay…Anyway, the Sherlock Holmes in the movie was different from the one in the books. The movie showed his clumsy side. Not the usual stoic, proud and all-knowing Holmes. Oh, and understood some certain comments and remarks of the movie ‘coz I read the entire series by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle back in 4th grade. :)
TRIVIA: The phrase “Elementary, my dear Watson.” was never said by Holmes in the books. It was said in an old Holmes movie, the Triumph of Sherlock Holmes…If my memory serves me well.
I know this is quite short…but it’s a school day. :) So, I’ll make up to it next time….
| — | Sir Arthur Conan Doyle |
| — | Sherlock Holmes - The Valley of Fear, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle |
PSO - The National Finals, September 26th, a Saturday
Today was the day The day we spent months studying for. Day of truth and revelations.
We were to meet in school at 7 am. I arrived there at around 7:12 am all because the people working in McDonald’s were still frying my hash browns. We left two minutes later.
The trip was marked with silence, with a tense atmosphere. I was sipping my Hot Choco and thinking what would await this day. Jessey was silent. Sir was chatting with our principal.
We arrived at the SM Mall of Asia around 20 minutes later. We were greeted by strong winds hitting our faces, playing with our hair. We were greeted by Aiah a minute or two later. She didn’t meet with us in school and just went straight ahead to the venue.
We waited for around 2 hours for the competition to start. The “stage” was small, with chairs for the audience lined up. We ran out of seats. We just decided to sit on the stairs. The emcee then introduced somebody to speak for us, signaling the start of the Opening Program. He gave us a history lecture on the origins of the PSO. I expected something different though.
Let me skip that boring part.
The competition was to be held in the NIDO Fortified Science Discovery Centre. Formerly known as SM Science Discovery Centre.
We were to begin the competition. We were to have our Theoretical Exams first. That meant pencil and paper. Each category, Earth and Space Science, Life Science, Physical Science, Health and Basic I.T. would take 15 minutes each. Thus, having a total duration of 75 minutes.
That was a big challenge. We guessed in most. Life and Earth Science were the easiest ones here. Fifteen minutes later, we would begin the Practical Exams.
Again, the five categories would have a station each. Fifteen minutes per category, with a total duration of 75 minutes.
That was the hardest exam ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Identify which leaf is which. What!?!?! Copy everything in this paper as it is. With no mouse. OMG! The others were too complicated to remember. Physics was the easiest here though. The probinsyanos have an edge. :( We won’t make it.
Lunch break. We went to Burger King and had lunch. We were then informed that there were floods everywhere. There was a storm named Ketsana - Ondoy, locally. Some were ankle-deep, knee-deep, waist-deep and neck-deep. Wow. Little did I know how this would affect us later on.
When we got back, they were about to announce who made it to the Grand Finals. We had already accepted our defeat since our competitors didn’t look as distraught as we did. This school got in. They scream. Another school got in. They shout. Another school got it. We sulk. The Learning Tree got in. We screamed. It had a mind of it’s own!
We headed to the Planetarium. Ten schools competing for the prize. And bragging rights.
What was that!?!?!?!?!? I’ve never felt so clueless and frustrated before.
Skip this humiliating part. We were the National Champions last year… :( (cry, cry, sob, sob)
We headed to Pizza Hut for supper. The school sponsored this one. We had Pepperoni and some other pizza. We received “reports” later on that roads had become impassable. I have to admit, I was quite excited. What if we get stranded? When will we get “rescued”? What will we do while waiting.? Questions spun around my head as a smile stretching from ear-to-ear tugged at my lips.
My mother then sent me a text message instructing me to buy some emergency necessities. I already had a toothbrush and a tube of toothpaste. I then excused myself, I told them my mother wanted me to buy some things. My principal then accompanied me to Watsons.
After I made my purchase, Mrs. Santos, Aiah’s mother, came in and bought some emergency “supplies”. I saw her getting bottles of water, toothbrushes, a tube of toothpaste. Soon, Mrs. Cortez, Jessey’s mother, came in and did the same thing. I asked excitedly if we were “camping” here - in the mall. They replied, “Just in case.”
We headed back to Pizza Hut. I had my water jugs refilled. Jugs not jug. My mother made me bring three types of drinks. Namely, coffee/frap, juice and good ol’ H20. We then made our way back to the Discovery Centre.
Upon arrival, we made a head count and started the awarding ceremony. I felt quite disappointed during that time. I believe the consolation medals were just to make us feel better and a way to tell us, “You did your best. There’s always a next time. :)”. I felt miserable. Well, not really. Although I have to say, the medals this year were far better that last year’s. Big improvement.
An announcement was then made that all roads in and out of MoA are impassable. They advised us to stay in the mall until the situation improves. The Science Discovery Centre would be remain open until then. The three of us (kids), looked at each other with satisfaction and excitement. Yes! Camping in the mall! How many of you can say that!?
We spent the rest of the night walking around, chatting, making trips to Krispy Kreme, watching this BORING video, the Magical Reef. We dozed off in the Planetarium, too. Aiah and I woke up a bit later to find Jessey missing. He was beside me when we entered the Planetarium. We left the Planetarium looking for him. We went to the Events Room, that’s where the adults stayed to keep updated with the outside world through the Internet and the laptops the PSYSC staff brought. We told them Jessey was missing. None of them looked too worried - even his mother. He couldn’t have left the Centre anyway.
I went to the comfort room and Aiah tagged along. The C.R. was weird. There were random facts about urine pasted all over the walls. One said that it was used for bathing or something. Done using the toilet, I headed towards the sink. I turned the faucet’s lever. No water came out. I told Aiah and she said they probably cut the water supply. Luckily, I had a small bottle of Ethyl Alcohol. A girl came in and used the toilet. When she came out I told her they had cut the water supply and offered her some alcohol. We ended up chatting and hanging out the rest of the night/morning.
After going around for like two hours, we headed to the Planetarium. Chatting and all. Illana, the girl we met, came in after us. She sat a level lower than ours, mine and Aiah’s. We started chatting about random things. Oh, and Jessey, who had been missing for like two hours, turned out to be sleeping on Illana’s level, on his chest, taking up three seats. He woke up a bit later and we started talking about Biohazard aka Resident Evil. We wondered if we could watch the DVD that I had borrowed from a schoolmate that was in my bag because Jessey brought it with him. We made our way out of the Planetarium and to the Events Room. Jessey asked one of the PSYSC guys if we could watch a DVD. The guy lent us a laptop. Yeah! Biohazard/Resident Evil: Degeneration!
That was an awesome movie. I love Claire’s trick with the gun. The bloopers were so hilarious! Claire’s Flare was the best! I’ll post a link at the end of this entry. People were dying outside and we were safe sleeping in the mall. This is getting too long. Please bear with me. I’ll make it as short as possible.
Long story - short.
Illana left some time after the movie. After they handed out free Krispy Kreme, we decided to leave as well. We left the mall at 5:30 in the morning of Sunday, September 27th. We stayed in the mall for 22 hours and 30 minutes.
Link for the Blooper! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SD_AZtBKcM
Author’s Note : Sorry it took so long to post! I had to find time to gather my thoughts. Peace.
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