A clamor from someone gone mad while on a sembreak

Herald turns on the TV... and later gets bored.

He opens the ref for something to eat, devours it... and later gets bored.

He visits his Facebook account for a while... then he gets bored.

He picks a book, tries to open the first few pages... and he gets bored.

He surfs for anything on the internet... and boredom strikes on him.

He reaches his phone, texts something... and what’s new? Boredom paralyzes him.

He tries to sleep, dreams about nothing... and guess what, his soul still gets bored. Yeah, nothing is more boring and lifeless than having to float in some dreamless sleeps.

This is hell. He is doomed. The sembreak’s notorious BOREDOM SPELL is cast on him.

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Hellish. Deafening. Pricking.

This has been the track of my life in the past two weeks. And this has been how my SEMBREAK was softly killing me, torturing me... while I am helplessly caged in its powerful spell of absolute tediousness and dullness... which will inevitably lead me to an appalling state of nervous breakdown if situations were left unattended... gently driving me insane in the process, tormenting my very soul... until finally, such breakdown will be reached and the irrevocable spell will completely take over my reasoning... incapacitating me to a deathlike stupor!

And now, my only desire is for this sembreak to end... for this whole pervading pandemonium to bid its farewell. If sembreak would just draw to a close, I know I can break free from the spell. But how could I still have the faith to grasp to this little shred of hope if my mind’s utterly certain that the remaining days of this break would only serve to prolong the agony in an unimaginably hundred-fold efficacy?

Doomed.

***

I Also Had My Share of Such Sembreak Reunions

Let’s face it: sembreak can sometimes be dull and boring. We eagerly want and wait for such break simply because we want to give ourselves a ‘break’ from school’s demanding atmosphere. Ironically, when sembreak arrives, we then tend to curse and nag about it (consciously or not) because of its becoming TOO BORING--too boring that sometimes it seems it can almost kill!

On a lighter note, sembreak has also its likable side. On the top of this list: REUNIONS! For friends who are parted away because of college studies, sembreak perhaps is one impeccable time for them to get-together and a rare chance to bring back into the scene the good old times they shared. Lo and behold, I also just had my share of such reunion this sembreak!

***

Yesterday, 10/25/10, marked the nationwide Barangay and SK elections. And apart from politics, it also marked the reunion of the wild pack. Yes, the not-well-planned and we-lacked-food-but-still-it’s-okay-coz-nothing’s-gonna-stop-us reunion of the SY 09-10 IV-Isaac Newton students, or better known as the ISATONIX!

There were 22 of us, namely (according to the time of arrival): Al, Tisay, myself, Hanzhell, Vevian, Archie, Alemar, Evangelene, Jireh, Nobie, Wena, Joemar, Gliselle, Jaime, Evelyn, Glen, Judel, Maegan, Dian, Edmund, Fatima and Christyl. Johanna, because of her motherly concern for the group’s scarcity of food, donated a layer of chiffon cake and 2 bottles of 1.5-liter Coke even though she wasn’t able to join us to the reunion’s proper venue.

Speaking of venue, we had our reunion at the Mangima Spring Resort, the only elegant resort we know we could easily have access to. A Haven away from home! (I read this in a poster at the resort’s walls while we were all busy haggling with the in-charged lady to give us some discount in our entrance fee and cottage rentals, all to no avail!)

But heaven’s luck! When we got inside the resort, we found ourselves to be the earliest visitors... which only meant one thing: we could MONOPOLIZE the entire resort! So, without any hesitation (except sa mga kandingon like AL! :DD), we then plunged ourselves to the pool’s refreshing, cold waters. We actually didn’t do much than just having to playfully swim in the pool and childishly splash waters on each other’s faces; trying so hard to make it across the other side of the pool without stopping along the way; submerging in the waters and betting who’s gonna emerge the last; diving in underwater to see who’s gonna get the object (usually Jaime’s mirror or simply a stone thrown in the pool) first; emerging from the pool whenever we felt like eating; posing and modeling whenever the cam’s lenses find the perfect angle to shot; and trying to dance with the playing music despite of the shivers caused by the cold waters – while other people as well started arriving at the resort.

Aside from keenly talking about the other malicious people in the resort, we also got the chance to talk about college life and about stuffs that keep us now busy. Almost everyone shared something about how their grades for the first sem went, how their teachers could be so “terror”, how their subjects could be so easy or difficult, how their scholarships might possibly get near in the ‘verge of extinction’ (including me!!!), how their school uniforms look like, how their respective schools top in nationwide board exams, how their schools’ head-turners melted their hearts, and how as a whole, college life has been treating them so far.

Apart from the abovementioned, the most important I guess is that we got the chance to be TOGETHER again (even for just a day). Together, we got the chance to strike any pose we desired in front of the camera, while striking our own poses in our pursuit of college. Together, we happily enjoyed swimming in Mangima’s pool, while still swimming forward in the seas of our dreams. Together, we had savoured another precious time of being together, while further strengthening the so many bonds we’ve established: of being friends, of being a family, and of being ISATONIX! =)

***

* end *

P.S.1: I don't like the title !

P.S.2: Long hair na bya si Shonya ! wuhahaha!

P.S.3: Nagsakay mi ug bus pauli ! Naka-standing position ang tanan... with queen Christyl still crowning the towel on her head ! :DD

First Semester AY 2010-2011: A History In A Nanosecond

Alleluia! First semester has finally drawn to a close. The four months that passed greatly created a seemingly millennium-long history within just a nanosecond. Indeed, time flies so swiftly that everything just seemed to pass like a blur. We might even be thinking now that high school graduation was already an 'ancient' event in our lives... and we might as well be forgetting that it was ONLY JUST 7 MONTHS ago when we actually had it.

Anyway, merely thinking that semester break is here just gives me so much relief: relief from the deafening boredom prevailing in the boarding house, relief from the tight budgeting of the allowance, and above all, relief from the gruelling study tasks and sleepless nights of burning my midnight candle which for some times, sadly, do not pay off!

***

Enough with the drama. Now let's have a recap of everything major major that has happened within the first sem's course of time.

FIRST DAY of college. Well, uhm, I really can't clearly remember the happenings on the first day of class, but I'm quite sure that part of that day was the not showing up of our teachers, save for Mr. Voltaire Marquez, who we initially thought as just another student. Also, on the first day of school, I hadn't totally made up my mind on which to use between the traditional notebooks and a binder.

ACA family. Well, I am just so honoured to be part of such wonderful block. Our Accounting teacher once said that block ACA is the flagship of the university’s School of Business and Management (SBM) which is primarily composed of elite students who obtained a GSA of 95 and up in the entrance exam (and now I feel like a royalty...hahaha). However, being surrounded with great minds can sometimes be draining. On a lighter note, I really thank my ACA friends for letting me experience ‘home’ in my first head-on confrontation of college.

Statement shirt. As part of being one united block, we decided to have our own shirt. The color’s blue, and the print says: “DUGONG BUGHAW, PUSONG DILAW, WALAY ULAW”! The bughaw is for being an Atenian, dilaw for being part of SBM, and walay ulaw for... uhm, let’s just say it’s for the brimming ‘confidence’ and ‘ingenuity’ of the block! (wahahahahahaha! ewan!) And oh, I think the shirt has cost each of us fairly 180 pesos.

Acquaintance Party. Did we ever have such? I think we were supposed to have an acquaintance party that was basically why ACA block shirt was designed. Was I absent that time? How come I don’t remember savouring such much anticipated college gathering? Oh yeah, coz’ we never had one. They kept on deferring it which then so sadly, ended to having none at all.

Jabelle Labella. It’s actually ACA’s textserye created by a creative blockmate of ours, Solomon. The story revolves around the sister relationship of Jabelle, the ugly hunchbacked multi-evolutional sister of Labella, the kontrabida bully. As the system dictates, each episode would be patiently sent to everyone via GMs (group messages). Of course, it starred almost everyone in ACA including myself. I played the extra role of JOVIT HERALDINO (which at least finally fulfilled my dream of being a singer!) and had my critically acclaimed first appearance in episode 18.

BS Accountancy – Major in Cartography. Yep! Cartography, as in the tedious map-making. This one was actually in preparation for our History 10 prelim exam, when we were all compelled to memorize the entire map of the Philippines including the provinces’ capitals and towns as well as their geographic shapes, the regional and provincial boundaries, and everything that is in the map! Net result: gained a perfect sense of direction and a silent ill feeling towards the subject!

Intramurals. Well, I unfortunately didn’t get to enjoy the entirety of it. I even wasn’t able to witness how the SBM Eagles stunned the audience and successfully defended the Championship in the Cheerdance competition last intrams. I irredeemably missed a great deal of it. How pitiful!

General Biology Quiz Bowl. This was held on the opening day of the Intrams. Dan Uriel, Reynold, and I composed the group which represented our block. At stake: ACA’s semi-final exams! Cheers and jeers abounded for us; however, luck wasn’t on our side and we didn’t win. On a lighter note, just hours after the quiz bowl, SBM emerged as Champion in the Cheerdance competition.

Waka waka P.E. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever think of myself dancing Shakira’s Waka waka with modified dumbbells in the form of mineral water bottles filled with strawberry-flavoured juice (which was prepared and mixed in the CR!), while doing some aerobics and gymnastic skills (our group got the lowest grade for this activity). But we had fun anyway; and that was what mattered most!

Ten hours of university service. Scholars are compelled to render at least ten hours of service every semester to any of the university’s offices. In my part, I effortlessly completed my service with 5 hours in the Scholarships office, and 2.5 hours each in the Finance and clinic. According to them, such service serves as the scholars’ token of gratitude towards the university.

The genius: Dr. Labuntog. He’s our English teacher - an unpredictable, intellectually powerful teacher who introduced us to the lovable Little Prince; who imprinted on us the XU Mission Statement; who fascinated us with the Tibetan bell; who made us delve deeper to the stickiness of the biko and the crunchiness of chicharon; who made us sing our hearts out with Till There Was You and Something Stupid Like I Love You; and who awed us with his multilingual tongue. Everyone idolize Dr. Mark Labuntog!

Tangled with the Pancit Canton. Yeah, food. I think it’s also worth noting that in the first semester of my being a freshman college, I’ve indiscernibly grown bigger and fatter. Throw the blame to the culprit of this fattening: the canteen’s Pancit Canton! I don’t know why, but it seems that the canteen personnel could somehow cook it tastier than when I cook it at home.

Finally, FINALS! What is a final exam? Yes. A torture! If you could just feel the excruciating pain of our brain cells in being forced to absorb everything that’s in our THICK (and when I say thick, believe that I’m not joking) books when we were subjected to such final exam, then you’ll get an idea how finals could be so hell. I personally don’t even like remembering how my finals went; it’s SEM-BREAK afterall! Everyone’s currently savoring the coziness of being on their cloud nine (which everyone rightfully deserves)! And I, I don’t wanna break such repose! :DDD

***

All the aforementioned make up a history – a history of ACA, of the ‘firsts’ in college, of friendships established, of blending in and standing out as freshmen, and of us all, hitching our wagons to our individual stars – a memorable history created just in a brief span of what was like a nanosecond.

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