Random nostalgia...

...music, please!
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by PAM


I was halfway through writing a "real post" here when "Perfect Day" came on on the Asian Food Channel.  The episode was shot in Öland, a Swedish island in the Baltic Sea.  All of a sudden, I miss Sweden, the kind people, especially my research adviser, who made me feel at home all throughout my stay... and the beautiful and serene Nordic countryside!  And I miss my Spanish friends, too, with whom I went on Scandinavian tour in the Summer of 2000 while on a break from Lund University... we all loved Öland!  Well, we loved the Scandinavian countryside, actually. :)  With its pristine waters, clean air, blue skies, thick but amazingly very "welcoming" forests, wildlife and fresh food everywhere, it gave us a relaxing break from the busy "urban jungles" that were Manila and Madrid... and a much needed respite from the demands of academic work in Lund.

Okay... while we're at it, let's just complete this quick nostalgic journey with one of the biggest pop hits in Sweden between 1999 and 2000...

..."Save tonight" by the Swedish artist, Eagle Eye Cherry.  Aaw, it still sounds good after all these years! :)

And, as for the "real post", which incidentally is (finally) about tennis (and Roger Federer), football (and FC Barcelona), and "shifting of gears" - professionally... uhm, I think it can wait.  Later....

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Video credit:  Thanks, YouTube, for the video link.

Wednesday nostalgia...

...on break-ups et al.
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by Philipina A. Marcelo


The weather is not being good to me, not feeling well today... and a friend of mine chose this 'fantastic time' to ask me what my fave "break-up song" is - ever! Can you believe it... that I was actually asked that question... and with the added "ever", too?? So, what was my friend implying... that I was a "break-up veteran" and therefore I should have a fave break-up song? =) Oh, boy... I didn't realize I'm projecting that aura of a "serial break-up girl"! =) Hmmm... if I knew it, my friend has been sulking over the Jade-Andy break-up in "My Binondo Girl"... and I'm just unlucky to be the first single person that crossed my friend's vision. :)

But, just for the record... nope, I'm not - a break-up veteran! :) Even in my professional affiliation, I'm kinda loyal and enduring y'know. :) For how long? How does 20 years (and that's it) sound? Stay tuned! :) Anyway, if one has to have a fave break-up song (yeah, I know that sounds weird, right?), then mine would have to be this...

"It must have been love... but it's over now."

...from the early '90s and by an '80s act, of course! "It must have been love" by Roxette of the "Dressed for success" fame, among many others. Roxette was one of the reasons why Sweden was "a must" destination for me. This "break-up song" of theirs was from the soundtrack of the 1990 phenomenal box office hit, "Pretty Woman". And, just for the record, too, "Pretty Woman" is one of my all-time fave chick flicks (Academics are allowed to have a few, too, right? :)). I think that Richard Gere was really gorgeous, too, and that he made the 'salt and pepper' look truly sexy in that film - long before George Clooney decided to mesmerize and leave many of us breathless with exactly the same look. And Julia Roberts... ah, those legs... and that figure! She was indeed a pretty woman - in this film... and in that other chick flick hit in 1999, "Notting Hill", too.

Now, with all those '80s/early '90s sentiments, this post can be considered "nostalgic", right? Right! :)

Alright then... so, back to work? On a holiday? Ugh! Do I have a choice? :( Loyal and enduring - that's me. =) So, no... no choice - for now.

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Video credit: Thanks, YouTube, for the video link.

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Wednesday nostalgia...

...reaching out across the multi-disciplinary interface, and over to the "yummy side".
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by Philipina A. Marcelo


Uh-hmm, yeah... it was around the "ber-ber" months of 1999 (whoa! 12 years ago already!) when somebody took this photo of myself...

Lund University - out there... where engineering became "yummy" for me.

...yep, I did live for a year in that lovely Scandinavian country - Sweden - with a population of 9 million (way smaller than the population of Metro-Manila!), including he who is the all-time "clay specialist" of men's tennis, Bjorn Borg, they who made us equate videoke with "Dancing Queen", Abba, and he who is the current tower of terror on the football pitch, Zlatan Ibrahimovic! :) It was there where I first attempted to specialize in an engineering area that is more benign to Mother Nature's faltering health, long before "green technology" has become the "it" thing in processing technology.

So, yeah, I went to Lund University, the pride of Skåne, with the idealistic hope of meeting "the next" Norman Borlaug
The little studio that I "shared" with Vincent van Gogh during
my Lund University days (1999 - 2000).who seeks to feed the world, this time, through the wonders of processing technology. No, I didn't meet the next NB. But I did meet 1/3 of that trio that wrote what an MIT grad student described as "the bible of membrane fouling". It was there where I shared a well-kept office pantry, coffee table and a few ideas with Gun Trägårdh of the "Marshall, Munro and Trägårdh" membrane fame! :) Therefore, I could say that I learned membrane technology from one of the very best in the world! Boy, it feels good just to be able to say that! :) Of course, I have yet to maximize the benefits of that learning, and help spread the joy of that experience - skimming Gun's head. Therefore, time to move on from where I am now.

More on Lund University, the wonderful people I met there, and the beauty of Scandinavia some other time... 'cause, yep, work beckons - again! Tsk!

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BTW, have you ever looked forward to some big event, worked so hard so you could be a part of it - day and night, even on weekends, foregoing what could've been "life-changing" social events (and giving up blog time, too, hehe...) to do so - and really happy about it, too, just because your effort seemed to be paying off with excellent results, and that heightened your excitement about participating in that "big event"... and then when the big day finally arrived, you weren't even a part of that event? That you were reduced to just a mere spectator - an outsider - rather than an active participant? And the only excuse people could offer is a "glitch" in communication line... yes, in this day and age of ridiculously advanced communication mega hi-ways, too? Did you feel crushed? Yes? Well, I know how that feels now.

Uh, nah... that has nothing to do with Lund University... I had a great time there! :)

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