Tremendum

The days pass by, so quickly. Just 5 days to go and the once in a lifetime experience comes.  Things are a bit set, but important stuffs must be polished first before facing the panel of PhDs. It is a dream I never dreamed of, but yes, its here, right in front of me, and it feels so damn good.

I was once a consistent representative of my intermediate school with regard to academic competitions. Every time my teachers say "Hey little boy, you will be representing our school in a certain event", I always feel the excitement of participating in these contests. My parents are very supportive, which makes me feel comfortable and optimistic, instead of being scared and think negative thoughts. Also, my only sister always tell me "You can do it, man. You're good at it. Just enjoy the moment, win or lose, okay?". But suddenly, these kind of opportunities got absent after my elementary years. Thus, these moments are nostalgic, because I wasn't able to experience these things in my high school years and also in my college years. It is indeed a deep nostalgia - the support from my parents, from my sister, from my friends, the experiences and honor of competing for your school, the awards you get, and so on. Now, these are only memories, and the frustrations after my elementary years should be buried.

Out from nowhere, a new door opened - an opportunity to carry the banner of your school, once again. Just like the old times, the initial reaction was purely excitement because I never knew that I would be able to experience the same honor I've missed several years back. It is a blessing because I never had imagined that this 3-unit subject *SP - Senior Problem (as what others call it. LOL!)* would serve as a door for new experiences. I never thought that this "burden requirement" is not really a sort of a BURDEN, rather served as a "bus ticket" heading De La Salle - Canlubang.  Man, who would have thought that an average, underground, unknown, low-profile programmer of his batch will be accepted for oral presentation in the 12th Philippine Computing Science Congress? 

After conducting series of researches about the said event, the excitement turned to a fearful mystery - a tremendum. I felt the goosebumps when I was able to see the names of the officers, organizers, and the panelists. I never thought  that many  PhD degree holders will be present in the said event, and man, not just the ones in the Philippines, but Asia *waaaaaaaaa!!*. It is scary indeed because I will be presenting my project in front of the ELITES of the industry. I'll just hope that there are no mental blackouts, and that I would be able to deliver stuffs in my slide show presentation well, so well *hahaha! LOL*. Please, please, please, pray for me guys. I need your holy intervention *LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!!* :))))))))))

 SP Title:        Generating Screened Manga Sketches from Colored Photographs
 Authors:        Raphael Henry Garay and Allan Sioson 
 Field:             Digital Image Processing (Computer Vision) 
 Language:     C++ OpenCV

 Legend:  colored images = input,   black and white images = output

                (colored images are taken from the Internet)

Expect the Unexpected

It was indeed a weekly routine for Naguenians (term used for students of Naga City Science High School) to lead the flag ceremony every morning. Citizenship Advancement Trainees (CAT) do the flag raising, we, the Drum, Lyre, and Majorette Organization (DLMO) play the national anthem, and class representatives present any intermission number at the end of the week. It was a sort of a task given to us by a teacher, and this task is performed by a section, and after a week, the task is passed onto another section. This was the cycle, or should I say the "rotation" so that all sections would be given a chance to lead the flag ceremony.

Each section has their own class president. The class president's task is to say any sort of a "speech" about their section, and if he/she wished to, he/she can also say something about their batch. When I was in 3rd year, it happened to be that my guy best friend in our class was our president. Well, he is just a simple, silent guy, and I think most of the words that come out from his mouth mean a serious matter. Before the flag ceremony, I was thinking about what would this guy say about our section, knowing that this guy speaks not that often. And yes, during his speech, he spoke a little, and his ending line is "Well, just expect the unexpected from the Osiris batch". After all, it's just a statement to me, a simple statement indeed. It is because I treat it as a tagline derived from somewhere, and I think that this is just a paradox which will just complicate my mind. Nonetheless, I never knew and never expected that this simple statement would say hello to me, and make a great impact in my life.

In my recent blogpost, I have mentioned about my Senior Project as an entry for a certain event called Philippine Computing Science Congress 2012 (PCSC 2012). I have also stated that I have just accomplished the documents for the very first step, which is the application process. Me and my project adviser have worked for those, hoping that my Senior Project would be accepted for oral presentation. A notification mail will just be sent to us which will determine if we made it or not. We have to wait for 24 days before we can celebrate, or before I can hear my adviser say, "Hmm, okay. Better luck next time, raffy." *hahaha! LOL!* This 24 days seem to be too long in such a way that I'm having countdowns in my head every after a day pass by. Yes, I am so excited because this is a big event, I mean BIG event, and the opportunity is so rare. *deep sigh* 

The judgement day came. Actually, I wasn't expecting for anything. It's just a sudden feeling that "Oh, it's February 3! And so?". I was quite nervous, but I tried to divert my emotions via negation. I'm just thinking that "oh, I won't be there, that's why there's nothing to be nervous about." I kept this mindset because I am not really confident about my SP getting into a certain event, most especially the kind of event that we had ventured. I am also not the brightest programmer in our pack, and I have not achieved any recognition about my programming skills. It was during night time when I was able to open my gmail account for some conversations with my adviser, not for the PCSC 2012 thing. I've checked my inbox, and it says I have one new message. As what I have said, I have pending conversation with my adviser, and of course, I am expecting that that one new message is from him...........

I was stunned after reading the content of this only mail that I have received during the day. It was mixed emotions, knowing that I didn't expected for anything. I was reminisced by the quote of my friend, to expect the unexpected things in life. It was indeed a blessing from God; an answered prayer.

*credits to all of my IT friends (nikko, neithan, marlon, tope, and all other IT buds) who helped me in this project, most especially to those who prayed with me (laika, zyra). Huge credit for my project advisor, Dr. Allan A. Sioson. This is for you guys.. Thank you very much... :D