tales from the hill

...or wansapanataym in atenyow...
every school, i suppose, has its own share of urban legends, along with ghost stories and campus myths. i hesitate to use the term urban legends because they bring images of serial killers and freak accidents.but no school is without its stock of the ghastly, gross and the great, all managing to escape being forgotten and continues to be told and retold to every freshman batch or prospective applicants. people never tire of telling or hearing about them - individuals whose names people might've forgotten or never even known and their stories, bigger than they are, that are always recalled.
one of these stories is about ambeth ocampo who taught the mandatory rizal course in college. at that time, rizal movies were big so he had his class watch one of the films about rizal.one of the questions during he posed during the exam is the significance of the dog who followed the soldiers who bore rizal's lifeless body.some say that the question was worth more than all the other questions in the exams while others say that the answer to the question was a third of the exam mark.nevertheless, atenistas, thinking that they can get away with even the most ludicrous ideas that they try to pass off as profound, had varied interpretations for that short scene.some students said that the dog symbolized the philippines, who was lost and desperately trailing after rizal.others ventured further and said the scene was a microcosm of philippine society under the spanish regime.one guy simply answered, the dog had no significance whatsoever.he got the full marks.
the grading system in ateneo is bound between the letters a-f with the occasional pluses and minuses in between.this is the case most of the time. one teachers whose class i had the "privilege" to be in had a reputation for giving unusual grades like g, k or if your paper was really bad, zzz.it was a good thing it was an english class and i never had to acquaint myself with the other letters in the alphabet beyond the grading system.on the other hand, there's also an oft-told story about fr. roque feriols, a highly-respected and famed philosopher and jesuit. in one of his classes, he had eduardo calasanz who eventually became one of the great philosophy teachers in ateneo.for this class, he wrote an essay about love and marriage that was so well-written and deeply-thought out that fr. feriols wanted to give him an a+ which was beyond the highest accepted letter grade, a. the essay is sensational that it has been making its rounds in various emails and sites in the internet along with the story behind it. in case you haven't read it, you can read it here.the registrar refused to grant calasanz his grade but fr. feriols argued his case and well, calasanz got the a+ he deserved.i have yet to know someone other than him who got an a+.if you know someone else, let me know.
the last story, at least the last one that i can remember, is about a philosophy or theology exam.with these stories, the details tend to be mixed up but the twist remains intact.the crucial exam hinged on the single question on the nature of courage.for our exams, we had to use blue books which were like the notebook fillers but slightly thinner because there were only about 10 pages.so if you were taking the exam, imagine your dilemma of trying to talk about courage in 10 pages.so everyone was scribbling furiously and yes, aiming for profundity.while everyone else was busy answering the exam question, one guy stands up, approaches the teacher's table and submits his blue book - with no answer and walks out of the room.he got the full marks.
i wanted to retell these stories, especially the last one, to remind whoever might find it useful of courage and to inspire us live the kind of life we want and be the kind of person we want to be.let's not be afraid to say we deserve that promotion, that we should get that car or that house we've always wanted and yes, we're good enough to want that guy or that girl.but more importantly, let us boldly take that first step to make real the dreams we dream.may we all become stories that people would want to retell and more importantly, people would want to hear.

*****
and i also couldn't resist putting this in...
"naging talk of the town nga siya ng barkadahan namin e"
- onemig bondoc, ngayong nandito ka

once on that island...

...and many times over in mine.

i just came back from watching once on this island with bryan and i loved it. i didn't watch it when it was staged by blue rep in ateneo and i backed out at the last minute when i was supposed to watch it last time with my friends.(yes, aisa and trixie, i shouldn't have missed it last time).
the story was, as summed up by a press release, about a girl who loved a boy she couldn't have(ehem,ehem).in the real story, according to bryan who's seen it many time, the ending is more tragic, more "painful", parang little mermaid when it was done by disney. not only did she not die, she got the prince as well! i remember one episode of desperate housewives where they rewrote little red riding hood because killing the wolf might send across the wrong message to kids.
at the start of the play, i was actually rooting for ti moune and daniel, thinking that they would live happily ever after. but being the hopeless romantic(read incredibly naive) viewer that i am, i soon learned that i should've gone for the practical and cynical side of me - that like most love stories that are rarely told, they won't.
during the play, there were two gay guys sitting next to me. before the show started, they were checking out the guys in the audience, even overhearing one gay guy say "ka-date niya ba yung babae o yung katabi niyang mukhang bading na chinito na naka-white jacket? ang gwapo pa naman niya, sayang taken na." i wanted to lean over and say, "yeah, my bet is he's with the other gay guy too." i think it's true what they say that gay guys have a built-in "gaydar" and they can tell offhand if one guy is, to quote samantha,"martini with a twist or straight up." but once the show started, he was lip-synching to the songs. he seemd to be mouthing all the right words and i was impressed that he memorized the entire album. well, i probably would too now that i have a copy of the songs. haha. and during intervals, he was one of those who applauded the loudest. needless to say, he enjoyed the show.
i especially loved menchu lauchengco-yulo who played ezrulie and bituin escalante who played asaka, especially when she sang mama will provide.kuya bodjie was also there and i was half-expecting pong pagong, kiko matsing and the rest of the batibot posse to pop up anytime.hehe.one line that caught my attention was when little timoun asked her adoptive mom what special reason the gods saved her for.and her mom replied, "why timoun, if we knew why the gods did the things they do, we would be gods ourselves."
so what epiphany have i gleamed from the play about loving someone you can never have?that you have to be certain how far you're willing to go and how much you're willing to give because you will be continuously be confronted with the strength of your resolve.when he doesn't notice the efforts you put in for him or when he goes of and falls in love with someone else, you'd have to ask yourself if this is something you can, will, put up with or if this is the point where you give up.it's all the same really, whether we take the plunge or not - we have to own the choices we make (sabi nga sa philo 102 namin kay bulaong).and when we plied the path we've chosen, we embrace it fully and pursue it with all the courage we could muster.and if we fail, then, we take it in as well, with the same dignity as when we made that choice.we make the bed we lie in, ikanga.(or as the play says, our lives are the stories we weave) but if things turned out like we hoped for, then, anhaba ng hair mo ate!hehe.

moving and the end of the world

i had a disturbing strange dream today.
i dreamt i was in a field with a guy i really liked and who, at that moment, i was learning, also liked me a whole lot too.i was so overjoyed and so kilig i didn't think i would ever want to wake up from the dream.
and then the earth begins to shake and one of the building topples over a group of people and one of them was too petrified to move that he/she/it was literally squashed.and then the rest of the building continues to crack, threatening to collapse altogether.
it was one of those dreams that you knew you were dreaming but at the same time, you couldn't control how things would turn out.so even if i wanted to forget about the earthquake and pick up where the romantic interlude was interrupted, i couldn't. believe me, if a guy i liked would've professed his undying love for me, i wouldn't want that episode to end with the end of the world.
this is like the dream i had last year, instead of an earthquake, there was a funeral.is this the world's way of saying, your happiness would mean all hell breaking loose or you'll find the guy of your dreams but at the destructive costs?yikes.'wag naman sana.
*****
so i am finally a makati girl,at least geographically.
i moved in last sunday, bearing all the earthly possessions, treasures and trash i have managed to accumulate over the past two years.
while i was putting away all my books in a box, i was reminded of the time after graduation when everyone in the dorm was in a flurry to pack their stuff.we were too busy trying to cram the last philo book in our box or sorting our clothes to pause and ponder that this would probably be the last time we would all be together like this - college girls living in the dorm and what felt like the world's best four-year sleepover.exhaustion and keeping busy are two of the best antidotes for overwhelming sentimentality threatening to bowl you over.it was only when all the packing, hauling and rushing were over did we have time to take in how are lives have changed so drastically and to feel nostalgic about the last four years we weren't properly able to say goodbye to.
it was the same feeling when i was packing my stuff,but i couldn't dwell too much on them because there were so many things to do.and now, when everything has finally settled down, it hits me - the overwhelming sense of nostalgia, the realization that i really am on my own now(my tita is getting married so she didn't move in with me) and the fear that comes with it.
i have to learn how to cook my own meals because i don't want to rely too much on takeouts.besides leftovers from restaurants are not enough to feed my cats.anyway, i'm not talking about cooking that involves frying and taking something pre-processed but real cooking that involves garlic, onions and tomatoes.don't you just love the smell of sauteed vegetables?so far, the only real meal that i am actually proud of is my chicken adobo.
then, of course, i have to get used to coming home to an empty house and not having anyone to talk to most of the time since my housemates are not around.now more than ever i miss cable tv, a dvd player and a phone line for my internet connection.hopefully, i'll be able to sort it all out by the end of the month.
but now at least i won't have to commute four hours a day all the way to farview and i won't have to rush out of a gimik so i could catch the mrt.now, i only have to travel to farview during the weekends. but i don't mind, at least, i'll have decent home-cooked meals and i won't have to come home to an empty house.yeah, i guess i have it all figured out.
anyway,if you have time, please drop by our house,i'd love to talk to a real person because talking to cats all day can make me a little cuckoo.or you can sleep over for the night. i'd love to have you over.but if you're to busy, a dinner and a movie is ok, i just hope you don't mind if i take home leftovers for my cats.