I’m gonna write my best of 2010 blog a day earlier since I probably won’t have the time to do this in Macau.
One more year passes by, but this is easily the best year of my life so far. It was eventful, and I learned a lot. I’ve been up, down, left, right, everywhere. Here are the best moments that stood out for me:
UPCAT results
I can still recall this scene vividly: It was English class one February Wednesday and I went to the restroom to urinate. After excreting bodily waste, I went and checked my phone. "1 new message," the screen displayed. I opened the message and it was from my dad. "Yahooo! You passed UP! Congrats!" he said, and at this moment I couldn’t hide my excitement. "Oh!" I screamed in the restroom, then covered my open mouth with a fist. I immediately ran to the classroom and tried to contain the emotions. I told one of my classmates that I passed — just one — but I guess my body language was too excited that I caught everyone’s attention.
And this was the start of a (sure-to-be) life-changing journey.
Mock Wedding
This is memorable because I got mock married to a girl I really loved liked. However, for a while it has already been awkward between us, but it was great. But being the opportunistic bastard that I am, and with the opportunity knocking, I seized it! "You may now kiss the bride," said the mock priest, and I did! But it’s not like I didn’t ask permission. I did, and she said, "Ikaw bahala". The moment was there, I just seized it. Heaven, man.
The Reparation
I broke up with my girlfriend November of ’09 and for the next 4 months we wouldn’t talk to each other. Add to that the mess it caused the friendship between my then-girlfriend (let’s name her Ellen) and her very close friend (let’s call her Katherine) and a sticky situation was at hand. Enter YFC Camp, the last camp, last activity I would have with the parties involved for the school year. Katherine wanted to fix things with Ellen and they did. So Katherine asked me to do the same with Ellen. The result? For 3 hours, we talked. And talked. And talked. And talked, like nothing happened. It was awesome. I never thought it would be repaired at all. And to this day we still are very good friends.
Graduation
The end of the line was there. It was a bittersweet moment leaving Zobel and heading into a much bigger, much more dangerous jungle. Graduation was a great way to cap a great school year I had, where the most learning occurred. Singing "First Day", our grad song, felt good, especially singing it with 300 others, with our voices melding and singing one song.
Phoenix Rises, Shines Like The Sun
It probably isn’t a secret that I am a Phoenix Suns fan. I’ve been one since 2004 when ultimate playmaker Steve Nash came to Phoenix. They’ve been successful, but they always fell short in the playoffs, always catching a bad break. In ’05, Joe Johnson got injured. In ’06, star forward Amar’e Stoudemire wasn’t healthy. In ’07, Tim Donaghy, the gambling referee, screwed them out of Game 4 of the 2nd round against the San Antonio Spurs. In ’08, Tim Duncan knocks down a game-winning three-pointer. In ’09, they missed the playoffs. And this ’10, they went all the way to the Conference Finals, pushed the Lakers to 6 games, and could’ve beaten them had Ron Artest been boxed out by anyone during Game 5. It was an amazing Cinderella story, and it was fun.
My First UP Enrollment, With A Bonus
Freshmen enrolling in UP get special treatment, first having orientations regarding the college/course/whatever, then enlisting in subjects — all of the subjects — in just one room, where you just had to line up. During the pre-advising (or advising? I don’t know exactly), I came into the room a little later than my Zobel-mate Alex. When I came in and sat beside her, she introduced me to the girl on her other side. Her name was Chelsea. If you know me now, you’ll probably know that Chelsea is one of my closest friends in UP. To future enrolees, try talking to some people. You never know how big a part they may play later in your life.
Enrolling Twice Sucks
Related to enrolling. When I was in the Office of the University Registrar and they were asking for the documents (admission slip, medical certificate, bla ble bla), they looked for my high school report card, as in the original one. The problem is, when I read the requirements, I misread it as the photocopy of the HS report card. I was screwed. I returned home and got my card, then went back to UP. It was then that I learned to bring more than I need, para sigurado.
Commuting
Growing up living 10 minutes from school (grade/high school), I never really learned to commute. All that I needed was within 10 minutes from home. The closest thing to commuting was riding the tricycle to Alabang Town Center — and I never even did that; I’d rather walk there. But when college came around, it became a necessity to commute. I eventually got the hang of riding jeeps, squeezing through throngs of people in the MRT, and boxing out to get in a bus in Ayala Avenue. Stressful, yes, especially during the 2nd semester, but every day was a different experience, so I’d take it.
UPJC
One primary reason I joined an organization was to inject life into my social life. If I didn’t have an org, I couldn’t imagine how life would be. And the friends I made in UPJC are great, the people there, or at least those I’m mostly around, lighten things up for me. More than anything, it was really the friendships I made that I’m very thankful for.
Disenchanted Kingdom
Living in Alabang and studying in UP doesn’t sound like a perfect combination, right? You’re right, it’s not, that’s why I leave house such that I have allowance in my time to allot for traffic, if ever it pops up. So during the 1st semester, my Tuesday/Thursday schedule was pretty early since I had a 9 am class. I will leave house at around 6 am and be in UP around 7:30 am. One day, I got bored listening to the music in my phone, so I decided to listen to Good Times with Mo, Mojo and Grace Lee. But all they talked about was sex. Every day.
I explored the other stations and found these 3 people answering the question, "Gaano ka-Pinoy ang Pinoy na baby?" It turned out it was King DJ Logan, a name I’ve known for at least 8 years already. I tuned in, it was a great show, and I got hooked! It became a habit every morning! I would listen in the MRT and find it hard to suppress my laughter. Ayoko naman kasing tumawa mag-isa at magmukhang tanga.
Actually Being Inside the Disenchanted Kingdom
Marf, a DJ in the Disenchanted Kingdom, lost to a caller in a game called "Are You Smarter Than a Lasalista?". I tweeted him: (read from bottom to top)
I was ASKED to go to the station. You can just imagine the surprise I felt while reading the conversation! And so I did, bringing my good friend Keisha with me. We first hung out in Magic 89.9, in Andi-9 and Jessica’s show. They really were angels.
Anyway, I played the game with Marf, and I won! I scored 2 tickets to the advanced screening of Harry Potter pt. 7 pt. 1. Keisha too got 2 tickets of her own. What I loved the most was being on-air for a significant amount of time. The game took almost 30 minutes. Before playing Logan, Marf, Lu, and Anna also talked to me, so more minutes! Great experience, and I wish it could happen again.
It’s over. 2010 has been a kind animal to me. I can only hope I make the right choices for 2011 to be grander and more electrifying than 2010. Happy new year! The next time I write here will probably be next year already 🙂
Cool. 