Comeback

Hey. I have come back from two weeks of hiatus. I just visited Abra and Apayao during the long All Saint's weekend. I do have to finish writing about Pangasinan first, though, and then I will tell my Abra and Apayao stories.

I'm better now. My depression lifted when my aunt showed her support in my plans. I already chose to go with the non-thesis option. I don't think I have to over-explain to everyone; it should just suffice to say that the thesis is not my path for now. I was too emotional about it - not good - so I was forced to part from it. I expected it to be the end of my research career, even as an industry person. But I had not expected otherwise.

I had a talk with another Ph.D. regarding his research. Against all odds, I had decided to talk to him about the position he was offering for research. The work that had to be done was multidisciplinary; microbiology and materials science. I never expected to run into this delicious combination of work. I hope that I can be accepted, but then already he expects me to be in his lab next week. Commuting home, I just thought of pursuing a Ph.D. in materials science, with the focus on that project. Just a vision, maybe it was God speaking.

Thus opens a door, unworthy as I am to enter it. I hope it is THE way to go. An opportunity opened. So be it.

I Must Not Obsess

It is Friday. I am going to tell my thesis adviser about my decision. I am not completing my thesis. I am moving on. Doubtless she will harangue me. I do not know if I can handle it. But I do not really want to continue with my thesis anymore. Whatever the reason I am to give, I feel that she will not understand it. Or she might feign understanding and attack me. Thus, I feel afraid. But I am trying to be courageous and not think of what might happen later afternoon. Can I control it? Will she be kinder if I think too much?

I must get through this day because I will leave for the North again this evening. This time it will be Abra and Apayao, two provinces in the Cordillera region. I really do not know what to expect. I must charge my batteries.

I just hope for the best, and for God's mercy. Lord have mercy!

Expecto Patronum

I am feeling kind of down tonight. Well, I am about to make a life-changing decision. The feelings of guilt and loss of self-worth that my thesis adviser inculcated in me are making this decision more difficult. My aunt is not helping: she actually takes my thesis adviser's side and thinks that I am just lazy and complaining. In fact, I am working my back off.

One colleague recently reminded me, not without spite, to comply with the rules regarding thesis students regarding staying overnight in the lab. She implied that I should not stay up late in the lab (unless she or her fellow research personnel were there). I understand that she was merely trying to tell me. I do not think she knows of my life-changing decision, because I have kept it from others and merely consulted the important people for this decision. However, as a former research personnel, I took it in a not-so-good way. I felt that I was being degraded to the status of a subject from my former status of a citizen. This added to my melancholy over my life-changing decision.

I have had thoughts of suicide in my mind:

• Squirting drops of potassium cyanide in my mouth. We have this in our laboratory.
• Hanging from the second floor of our institute's museum.
• Being run over.
• Being killed by criminals on an obscure, dimly-lit road.
• Being maimed by a stray bullet.

Of course, doing suicide is another thing. I do not want to be buried without a final blessing. I'm Orthodox, so my church cannot bless me when I die.

I seem to be on the borderline of clinical depression and normalcy. However, I improved a bit when I read the Wikipedia articles on these topics. I don't know why. Am I even subliminally denying that I am depressed? Or I really read these articles and think, "No, I'm not THAT sick." Maybe I am relieved that it is explained to me, so that I don't delude myself into more and more pessimism and negativity.

I am a multi-sinner, but even then I pray that God might be by my side. In a world which has proven itself to be utterly utilitarian, cold and unfeeling, I cannot trust anyone to pick me up in the way I should be picked up. Even if only God is by my side, I know I can face the world and my problems. But He has to be there and I have to sense it. I do not know when this dark cloud of hopelessness will lift, but I hope it will come soon.