Always in pursuit of something, that’s my state of mind.

1. When I was a kid, I had a major fight with my childhood best friend, Cherry. Being so young then, and having only the TV to teach how to confront people when you are mad, I launched into a lengthy melodramatic argument shouting at the top of my voice. This scene was set along the streets no less. My childhood best friend and I were never friends after that. (Too much drama)

2. I was one of those poor little students who aren’t born of negligent parents. One time, during PE (our uniform: a white shirt with a logo, and a short white skirt), I went to school wearing my sister’s big hand me down PE skirt, my teacher made everybody in class (of course including my first crush) know that my skirt’s zippers aren’t working right and I have mended them with safety pins. In the same light, a classmate of mine found out, I was using stapler and/or masking tape for the hem of my skirt.

3. The very first time I had to wear jeans was in Grade six when we needed to go tree planting. Since I never wore jeans, I didn’t have jeans. I wore my eldest brother’s jeans, which were 5 sizes too big. For the entire tree planting trip, I was pulling my pants up, which I eventually belted using a string.

4. I have a condition called allergic rhinitis. Imagine sneezing endlessly in class nung high school ka at ang dami mong puberty issues?! Sneezing loudly in a cramped FX. In class, one of the class bullies, Melvin, would always comment: “di na mag-start yan…” after a series of sneezes, mocking my sneezes as if I was a car that wouldn’t start.

5. To my demise the same class bully witnessed a guy smashing the face of the guy coming down the bus that I was getting in on at the same moment. The following day he spread a rumor that I was smacked by some guy.

6. One afternoon break, my friends and I decided to eat in the classroom. I was holding mais con hielo on one hand and Pringles on another. Not looking where I was going to sit, I hastily sat on the edge of the arm rest, forcing the chair to tumble, and myself to flip backwards, with my entire merienda splattering on the floor, buti na lang walang boys nun.

7. In second year high school, I was a finalist in the elocution contest, thinking that we should be donning our best outfit, I wore a dress. After finding out that everyone else was in their school uniform, I rushed home (which is an hour commute away). Not realizing na fiesta sa Tanza at that time. I was stuck in traffic and I never made it back. That was my first ever major pang-iindyan and regretful memory.

8. After getting burned the first time, I never really called anyone my best friend again… not until 1st year high school, when everyone else seemed to have a best friend. I didn’t have one and didn’t know how to have one call me her best friend too. So I wrote a note to a good friend asking her if we could be best friends. Good thing she reciprocated. However, she’ll be my very last “best friend.”  I don’t like the pressure that such term imposes on people. My philosophy now is we should all strive to be the best kind of friend to every one of the people we call friends. 

9. I have actually made a teacher personally write my mom a letter of hate towards me. “I’m fed up with your daughter;” that’s what she said. My mom only laughed this off. Ang dahilan sa love letter na ito: one afternoon, she was about 20minutes late for class, she came in seeing everyone else noisy while the others were doing assignments for the next class. I know homework should be done at home, but my friends Ella and Maris were only finishing what they started and making better use of their time. Instead of going off on the noisy boys, my teacher chose to embarrass the two little timid faces, which I never really take lightly. I stood up for them and ended up banging my table to everyone’s surprise. Ang ending napaiyak ko yung teacher. 

10. I’ve always been an easy going person, even with my acads. Never akong naging sobrang serious and OC about my grades. In fact, when I wouldn’t know the answer to a test question and I know I don’t know it, I skip that question rather than rack my brains and prolong the agony. So, I usually finish first in tests, enjoying the extra free time and probably using that to skim my reviewer for the next test. In fourth year high school, during one of our very last final exams in Calculus, I had a difficulty with one question because I couldn’t remember the formula. But I know my Calculus, and I may sound too boastful but I’m only being honest about it, I was really good with numbers. This was the only time I had to push my mind to think of the formula. Usually the teacher would let us extend a little over the period, but at that time my teacher had an attack of strictness, and said we should start respecting the time allotment for exams cause that’s how it goes in college… ang sumatutal, hindi niya ako pinabayaang mag-extend na noon ko lang ni-request in my entire life as a student. So nabuwiset ako, I felt it was unfair, cause she used to do it for other students… I got too pissed to think of my manners, I hastily handed my test papers to her, not looking at her, and didn’t notice that my paper fell on the floor. Apparently, this was too disrespectful. She sat down on the teacher’s table, snapped a pencil in two and ran to the faculty room all teary eyed.   

11.  to be continued…