Epilogue: High School life is said to be the most joyful time of your life... For me? Heck it's another grueling journey towards the fulfillment of your study life.
Story: First Year High School. Shaved my head last summer. It's as skinny as you can get. My classmates looked at me as if they have just seen a shaolin monk. You see I have Chinese features all over me, chinky eyed as I was, yellowish as I was. I had a lean 5'5 frame at the time (A grade 6 classmate of mine would tease me about a commercial who had a chinese man as it's model).
You see I am a little introvert and I don't like anybody staring at me... especially someone scrutinizing you from head to foot.
First day, First year, First disaster. I helped myself sitting at the first seat available to prevent more scrutiny. Days as a High schooler goes on so fast, I grew my hair as long as the Beatles had their mop tops, I collected quite a band of friends... Actually almost all of the boys in the room were "barkadas" at the middle of the school year at one time we did something naughty that it could have been lifted from a scene of a comedy movie.
Here's the scene: we have this enemy teacher (the commandant of the CAT officers), who seem to be on our tail all the time, annoyed by this autocratic authority the boys devised a plan to get even. You see this commandant loves watering our school garden, the plot was to take the hose off the nozzle of the faucet. And that they did (I was not able to join them it was recess and I was busy chewing my hotdog lunch but I was able to see them do the plot as the scene was not that far from where I was eating). As the poor guy was watering the plants he was surprised to find that hose suddenly ran off of water. Maybe contemplating what happened he suddenly placed the end of the hose close to his face... And the naughty boys plugged the hose once again and WHAM! Water splashed into that poor guys face.
Naturally he was angered by this and hunted us down, and when he saw us threw us at the guidance counselor's office. My guys protected me (as they know I wasn't part of the deed) so I was spared from the Armageddon. I forgot to tell you that we called our section "Tondo". That's how rowdy we were at the time. It was also at this same time that I developed crushes even if I didn't know it at the time (I had a longing for that one seatmate of mine after we were separated due to seat re-arrangement, It was then I knew that I grew fond of her). At the end of First Year I realised that High School was a new phase, a new life, and it's true to some degree.
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Second Year. I developed a new hobby. I created an Anime inspired comics with me and my new friends as characters, It somehow gained some notoriety as a few more of those I knew copied my idea. It was by then that I developed a increasingly addicting hobby of buying NBA trading cards. It was 1997 the height of the Bulls dynasty. Naturally we were in the middle of a basketball frenzy as almost all of the Philippines idolized Michael Jordan. NBA trading cards is not only a hobby but a business opportunity as well, I had one rare Jordan card once and traded it for one whole box of trading cards which I sold to my classmates 10% off prices then of a pack was 50 PHP I sold it to them 45. So in a weeks time I collect about 500 pesos enough to buy another box and sell it the week after. Great business, Great business and that was how the second year was... Our room was turned into a mini-casino with so many betting opportunities to choose from (I wouldn't tell the participants one is near our house and he might get me if I sell him ha!
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Third Year. Somehow I felt that a lot of girls was crushing on me I wonder why (hey no joke!), It was my first time to be invited to the intramurals as a basketball player, Had talented classmate in Louie Glenn (he's a great sketcher), and was part of the Dating Daan group (my classmates tagged us as that, maybe because of our intense knowledge of the Bible? I don't know). You know what if I have read Ambeth Ocampo around this time I would have contested my teacher's claim about Rizal during the time (we all know that there was a required reading of Rizal in Third and Fourth year).
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Fourth Year. I had a crush. I think she had one on me too, too bad I was so lame at the time and didn't grab the opportunity. The last year of High School and I was so focused of rushing to college... I had no time for fun, no time for crushing (just kept it inside)... I was so determined of getting good grades. I loved debating matters, had respect from my peers was one of the teacher's pets. I felt like doing it at the time because I believed my whole college life would depend on how I'd handle my Fourth Year. Love could wait, that was what's on my mind (though it kinda frustrate me up to today). I had good grades but happened after that is not what I expected.
Things I did bad in high school:
1. Tried smoking.
2. Drank gin dry, in the hot afternoon sun.
3. Didn't study for the exams and came up copying my seatmates answer. (In line with this, I developed a philosophy then: I wanted to test if I was learning something, so if I review my lectures then I did not learn enough up to college I would carry that trait).
4. Broke many hearts.
5. Cursed my teachers at their backs.
6. Fantasized women and their big fronts.
7. Cursed a lot.
8. Felt like a rebel.
9. Didn't conform with the PE uniform (it's so baduy!)
10. Grinned everytime I saw a bouncing boob.
11. Wore gel.
12. Occasionally late, fourth year was the peak (we had to do lots of chores because of this).
13. Faked illness.
14. Faked reason for tardiness.
15. Faked Parent's signature.
16. Questioned authority.
Well that's what I remember right now... Don't worry I'd add something more if I remember them. haha! Until next time. Chow!
