A New, Clean Slate

1st semester has officially ended, as I sweaty registered myself in for the 2nd semester of College of Liberal Arts. It’s a fulfilling chapter for me as a student, because through it I knew I can survive in college. On the flipside, it was difficult because starting another semester in college is a stepping stone, meaning, things would be much difficult and challenging. As I write this, my phone keeps vibrating on the class card-cluttered desk, which means it is being bombarded with messages from my block mates. But this time the messages isn’t the usual “ano homework?” nor the “good morning!” messages. They were messages of “thank you”, “sorry” and “I’ll miss you.” On the next days, we won’t be laughing at the same jokes anymore, nor can we share the same table for lunch because for the next semester, we won’t be in the same block again. We were re-sectioned according to our Grade Weighted Average (GWA). Being in one of the top classes doesn’t make me feel happy at all, because it is difficult to suddenly withdraw classmates-turned-friends from the daily scene of going to school. I will really miss the joke shows and “okray” sessions, and our favorite past time taking stolen pictures of drooling classmates and sleepyheads. But learning and fun doesn’t stop there. That is the reality and it has to be done. I must move on. My world doesn’t rotate by a single picture; it rotates because of a reason. And that reason must be known, that is why it has to be learned. But as I move on, I have with me memories and hopes that the friends I knew will be the same friends I’ll be meeting in the crossroads for the next years. I will truly miss my block mates, specially “kabaklaan” (it’s what our block mates call our group, because we mainly call each other bak or bakla, even if we have straight guy/s (you know what I mean, mga bak) in the group) Chai Retorta, Sarah Rosales, Jam Camaclang, Mark Quinto, Chiela Ramos, Joanna Perez, Alyssa Salanguit and Mike Timonera, if you’re reading this, ILY, mga bak!

This is just the beginning. At certain points in college, we’ll have to let go of friends and make new ones. But that doesn’t mean replacing friends to new ones. Remember that Soc. Sci line? “Man is a social animal.” The magic is adding more friends, keeping them, and loving them. It is just a question of belief and a matter of change. After all, we’ll be in the same school breathing the same air, learning the same ideals, and whining about the same Math “Happy” quizzes. After those eight semesters, we will be born to a bigger world which demands greater things from us, till we forget old friends, make new ones, and retrieve old friends from the hollows of forget. It’s not yet a goodbye for us, Block 29.

2nd Semester...Thrill or Shrill??

I got myself enrolled for the second semester. I can’t imagine how fast those five months passed. First day, I introduced myself to total strangers, the next day here I am saying my goodbyes to them, then the next day, I’ll be doing the same introduction to total strangers once again. The twist is, we were sorted according to our GWA, and I was transferred to one of the top blocks. I was shocked when I saw it in my registration form. I'm thankful, but I'm not that happy at all. So what are the things to look forward to in 2nd semester? NIRVANA. No College Algebra, Trigonometry’s turn, at last! It’s our turn to have our Natural Science 11 which happens to be Biology. I soooo love Biology. But the sad part is….drum roll…..CHEMISTRY FOR 5 UNITS! I happen to hate Chemistry when I was in high school. But the good news is, we had some Chemistry during the first semester, which would (hopefully) help us with this bloody 5-unit subject. Bad news, I failed to get in soccer for my P.E. because the enrollment system is unjust. Only blocks 1-20 are allowed to enroll in the morning, and enrolling for P.E. is a first-come-first-serve basis. Meaning, as exactly quoted from Mark “Latak na P.E.” The good news is, I am still left with choices: Ballroom, Philippine Folk Dance and Softball. I decided to take Softball instead of dances. I don’t like dancing that much and I think softball is just as fun as soccer. The good news about it is, D.O.M. P.E. professor is handling swimming, which means there’s no way he’ll be my professor in P.E. Yehey. My schedule, though, is just as hectic as it was. Well I guess I will have to wait for next year for a better schedule. Saturday is my day off, and I got three-and-a-half hours vacant before P.E. during Fridays.

Cooking Sinigang + more

To make some relevance out of my 17 days break from school, I took over the kitchens, and yes, I cooked. Well of course, with nerves as I stir the Sinigang soup. Well, it was worth the nerves because according to the mouths I fed, pwede na akong mag-asawa (remember that tv ad?), Hahaha. Not in the near future, of course.

It was totally scary cooking a "serious" food for the people here to eat for lunch. It would be much easier for me if I don't have anyone to share it with. Of course, I don't want to hear complaints about the food I cooked. That's worst case scenario for chef- wannabe like myself. Add in the fact that it is the first time I'll be cooking viand for 6 mouths, and the only thing I knew close to "serious" cooking is cooking instant noodles and hotdogs ( do you actually call it cooking?) and I can't even perfect frying sunny side up eggs. But hey, they said it's good.

The first thing I cooked was Ginisang Munggo. My tita just gave me the instructions on how it's cooked, and I just followed it. I was not satisfied, though. My tita said chewing the meat was like chewing bubble gum. But the taste wasn't bad.

Ginisang Munggo with Bubble Gum meat. haha.

And then the next day, I was asked again to cook and buy the ingredients for sinigang. Buying the ingredients was easy (of course, I have a list in my pocket courtesy of Tita Mar),but cooking was difficult. I was not sure about how much salt to put in, how long will it take for the pork to get cooked and the like. And then the hour came when I said to myself, "it's done." Judgment time. I was nervous (I felt like a contestant in Iron chef), but the judges had spoken, they said that my Sinigang was good. So there, I can proudly say I cooked Sinigang and Ginisang Munggo without asking help from anyone. (:

yum. (:

* * *

I checked my email today and a friend sent me this youtube url. Watch this vid, surely you'll be touched, if not, teary eyed.

Do you ever think
When you're all alone
All that we can be
Where this thing could go
Am I crazy or falling in love
Is it real or just another crush
Do you catch your breath
When I look at you
Are you holding back
Like the way I do
Cause I'm trying, trying to walk away
But I know this crush ain't going away, going away . . .
LSS. (:

I ♥ BLOGGER

Waaaaaa... At last, nakapag-online din ng walang ginagawang related sa school! I missed logging in my friendster account! I missed reading e-mails! I missed blogging! It's been a while...I missed you all!

Been out of the blogosphere because of school. Yes, college life demands more time and effort. First semester was really hectic for me that I failed to check on my e-mail, and my friendster account! If my memory serves me well, when I went online the last time, then number of e-mails in my inbox was 150 or so. Now, I will have to deal with 1309 e-mails. I even failed to check out my friendster account on my birthday. I still have birthday greetings left to be approved, and heck, it's October now, I don't think anyone would even care reading those comments considering my birthday was ages ago. I got approved by PPP ages ago but I still haven't accepted any jobs either.

So what happened during the days I was out? Not much. I went through my first collegiate mid-term and final exams smoothly, and finished 1 of my 8 semesters in college (hopefully), got my first classcards, celebrated my 18th birthday (yes, I'm an adult now), my tita who favored me most of the time passed away, and the latest and saddest event that had happened, my last grandparent alive is now dead. My lola Laly, who suffered from diabetes for years passed away on October 5. I remember, it was at the same month last year when my grandfather left us, right after my birthday. I dunno if my birthday is jinxed or what. So semestral break doesn't sound enthralling for me as much as it does for the other kids out there, now that I'm grandparent-less and left without anything to do. ):

I'll try to create a new layout for this blog to change the mood.

so there you have it. Not much, right?