Maybe I shouldn't have started this blog now, not with everything that's been going on.

Got back from the faculty workshop yesterday evening.

Again my celphone had no signal in the area (that's the third time this summer: Sagada, Bolinao then Quezon) although another network had a nearby tower, so if anyone was trying to contact me from Thursday midmorning to Friday midafternoon, I may not have received their message.

There was a lot of things covered during our workshop that I would like to be reflected here, and I will, during the next few days, but for now I'd like to get the Freshman Orientation last Wednesday out of the way first, which I would have posted about the next day if I had not been on the road and out of the way.

In the morning, just like in the Open Campus and College Fun Day, there were several students who arrived at 7am even though we said that the orientation would start at 8am.

Again we believe that this is because the parents overestimated the time they needed to start traveling to get to the school, especially since even their least conservative approximations are probably applicable for after the classes begin, during the summer - when there are not that many people clogging up the nearby streets to drop their children off - it was smooth sailing all the way (to borrow an analogy for another mode of transportation).

The registration was good, with four lines moving quickly based the first letter of the students last name, and whether they had enrolled too late (after the cut off date) to be part of the first list.

There was also a checklist on the registration sheet for the checklist of requirements that they needed, including the x-ray, the physical check-up by a recognized clinic and the anti-hazing agreement. Maybe I'll elaborate my sentiments on these some other time.

Still, while we waited for the auditorium to fill up, a DVD of the history of the school in the country was played on the laptop projected to the backdrop of the stage.

It was the first time that I've seen it in full, and after noting that there were several narrators alternating every few sentences I recognized that they were the voices of the brothers running the schools. It was something different from hiring well known television or stage personalities to do the job.

When we decide to start the affair, my cousin the emcee asked everyone to rise while we switched the CD to the one that contained the National Anthem. The audience was standing for a full minute while we waited for the computer to recognize the new CD.

That's when I thought belatedly I should have copied the CD's contents (the National Anthem mp3 as well as the slide presentation software files to a temporary directory in the laptop for easier access.

ITC head Sir Randy finally got it going though, even though the LCD projector showed "no input" instead of any mezmerizing media player animation.

Next was the opening prayer, which again had its own slide presentation but would also be led by one of the students. Unfortunately that student read the prayer from a copy she was holding instead of from the screen, so he was reading faster than the words were being displayed, and therefore the students couldn't read aloud if we had asked them too.

So far the first two parts of the programme already had some hitches. Now a currect hitch in my schedule is forcing me to stop here and continue the narrative next time.