The missing curator returns!

May 1 marked the end of internship and I was scheduled to post this update then. Alas! Apparently, I had been a very delinquent honor student and I found myself under a heap of deficiencies. I had deficits equivalent to 24 hours of ER duty time each for otorhinolaryngology, obstetrics and gynecology, and family medicine. I also had 48 hours worth of duty time in the pediatrics ER and four hours in the internal medicine wards. Finally, I had two weeks worth of "community integration" make-up in community medicine. Remember my hospital admission for massive hemoptysis way back in December? That's right, coughing out cupfuls of blood doesn't excuse one from duties. It only makes the make-up ratio 1:1. Had I not been sick, the make-up period would have been double the deficits incurred. And so, I had to return to the countryside. *enter the first movement of Beethoven's Symphony No. 6 in F, Op. 68 (Pastoral)*

What had I been doing since May 1? I had completed all the make-up duties in the wards and ER and had just returned from two weeks in the "community." Crazy, huh? Thankfully, duties during weekends get double merits, so the numbers became more manageable. During this time, I also finished composing what will be our class's college graduation march—a massive orchestral arrangement of all three chorale competition entries I had composed for the class years prior.

As you can see, I've been a very busy unemployed man. Add to this the stresses of having a busted computer system. I'm an ignaramus when it comes to computers. I just know that one of three things happen: 1) after the first screen, i.e. the black screen noting the RAM and stuff, the screen remains black; 2) the system continues after the said first black screen with several columns of thin, horizontal, multi-colored lines, then, after the welcome screen, the system hangs and restarts; or 3) there's a high-pitched beep and the system doesn't start at all. Oh, when option 2 happens, I can also run the system in Safe Mode. Anyone got anything? Anyway, all my music and sheets lie dormant in my hard drive at the moment, and until the thing gets fixed (or I get a SATA-to-USB converter to access my files), I'll be stuck with making updates with other people's remixes.

What is perhaps the shining ray of hope in these bleak times is Daryl Banner. He had contacted me a while back and was enthusiastic about posting his music on the site. I was more than happy to provide his magnificent music the exposure it needed. He sent me not one or two mixes, but an entire twenty-track album, entitled VII, based on the soundtrack of the lauded entry in the Final Fantasy franchise. The first two tracks are featured in this column. Actually, the first three tracks play back-to-back, like consecutive movements in attaca, but Daryl and I decided not to post more than two at a time. I shall be posting updates weekly until the album is completed. I do hope I'll be able to update more regularly once my system gets fixed. Hopefully, I don't have any more deficiencies, too.

Anyway, that's about it for this update. Have a great weekend, folks! Until next time!

Fermat's Last Theorem

Sound Test Curator