Wow, I made it through my first 3 days of college! In fact, my classes are only scheduled from Monday to Wednesday. So far, I have yet to make any new friends (obviously coz classes just begun for the fall semester) but most of the people I encounter-including my new teachers and classmates-are very nice and courteous. I'm taking up film, BTW, for those who have forgotten what course I will take. The name of my new school is Long Beach City College. At first, I was nervous to go to my first class in my first day coz I was late (no thanks to my sister!) but then I regained my self-confidence and caught up with the things I have missed early in the lecture. In my first class (Introduction to Film) , we viewed the silent film classics "A Trip to the Moon" (1902) by George Melies and "The Great Train Robbery" (1903) by Edwin S. Porter. For our second class (Fundamentals of Film Production), all of us discussed in our own opinion the best/worst films we have seen so far this summer and of all time. Incidentally, my instructor for my second class happens to share my first name. He also has this independent film coming up which is currently in post-production (he describes his film as a sci-fi drama and "its about a guy who searches for his wife whom he believes was abducted by aliens years earlier"). We also viewed this very funny and very uplifting documentary called "American Movie" (1999) about a loser filmmaker who attempts to finish his film project as he deals with his own problems, while at the same time introducing us to his cynical yet supportive family and his eccentric friends. For my third class (which was in the evening), the subject was about Stage and Screen Writing. Our teacher had a great sense of humor which he imparted in his discussion. We also had a good time doing our first writing exercise for the class. Our teacher also gave us our first assignment: to make a one-act play featuring at least 4 characters and involves a table with a drawer with a key inside the drawer (what a stretch!). The next day, I attended my only class for that day (Film Art and Artists) which was only done in the evening. For this semester, we will comparing US films and foreign films through a series of viewings. Then just a while ago, I had another afternoon class for Fundamentals of Film Production. We continued our viewing of the documentary mentioned earlier, and afterwards we had a discussion regarding it. We were also given a project to take at least 10 pictures to be presented to the class next week that tells a story. Hopefully, I will be able to accomplish these things in a short matter of time, if my procrastination doesn't get in the way. I already have the textbooks needed as well as my student ID (I just had my photo taken and in a matter of seconds...Presto! I have an ID!) . Hopefully, college life wouldn't be bad as it seems to me, but I might sooner or later expect the unexpected in my new campus.

"Life's a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!"
--- from the play "Auntie Mame"