Kalayaan’s state is deplorable, to be honest. You’re lucky if your locks are broken—at least they’re not missing. The wood on the cabinets is rotting. Vandalism has soiled the walls, although artistically so. All things considered, though, the place is livable, because these days all you really need is electricity, running water, and, most important of all, WiFi. It could be much worse.

Tonight I’m in a hotel in Pasay City. Tomorrow will most likely be spent in MOA, primarily jejebusting but also finishing my pre-school-year shopping. Then in the afternoon or evening, I will go back to Diliman to spend my first night as a Kalayaan dormer.

Above is a picture of everything writing-related that is in my bag. I have many more books at home, and I wanted to bring all of them, but as I was packing I realized that space is scarce and that I’m not keen on the idea of bringing a boxful of dead trees with me to a small dorm room, so this is all I brought:

• Green Apple spiral-bound notebook, where I do most of my writing.
• Moleskine ruled notebook, for journal entries.
• “Basic Journalism” by Estrada and Nem Singh. You’ll have to squint really hard if you want to see it in the picture. I bought this two or three years ago, although I’ve been referring to it since elementary.
• “Feature Writing For Filipinos” by Genove. As an elementary and high school campus journalist I participated in the Feature Writing category.
• A small copy of the 1986 Constitution.
• “Twisted V” and “Twisted 8 1/2″ by Jessica Zafra. I read her blog and just started following her columns on the Star. I’m a firsthand victim of her viciousness, but she is entertaining to read nonetheless.
• “Youngblood” and “Youngblood 2.0″, anthologies of the popular Inquirer column.
• “Killing Time In A Warm Place” by Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. My thoughts on the book.
• “Stainless Longganisa” by Bob Ong.
• Barron’s Book Notes of Ernest Hemingway’s “The Old Man And The Sea.” Perhaps the best book I’ve ever read.
• My small fountain pen collection: a basic Pilot and a big-nibbed Parker. The Pilot is a pump converter; the Parker is one of those newfangled ones that use refill cartridges. My Quink inkwell is not in the picture because I forgot to pack it.
• Canon PowerShot A650 IS. I love this camera. Sadly, months ago it went priapic. Its lens won’t retract. I’m hoping I can have it repaired tomorrow, although from what I’ve read online it can be cheaper to buy a new camera than to send an old one in for fixing.
• Sterling daily planner.
• That little orange guy that keeps the pages in place when I’m reading a book. Given to me by a very good friend.

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

After five years’ worth of afternoons spent playing patintero and hide-and-seek and worrying about absolutely nothing, six years in the protective cocoon of private elementary school, and four years in the blissful turbulence of public high school, I’m finally heading off, living on my own for the first time in my life. It’s scary, in a way, going off on your own, severing yourself from the tether of dependence you’ve worn all your life. I’m not sure how long it’ll take me to get used to having to fend for myself out there in the wilderness they call the real world. I’m going to have fun trying, I’m sure.

But it is as exciting as it is daunting. I don’t know what awaits me in the skyscraper-lined avenues of the Metro, the tree-lined roads of UP, and the book-lined walls of its buildings. I’m yet unsure about what it will feel like to rub elbows with my generation’s future greats. I will be charting the course for my future, studying to become a journalist in the worst place in the world to be one, mulling over going on to pursue law and one day earn the general scorn of my fellowmen. The near future, I realize, is full of uncertainty, but so is life; I’m not fully sure of where I’m going, but I am sure I will enjoy the ride.

My parents will call, email, maybe pay a few visits; reunions with friends and classmates will take place on Facebook walls, in chat windows, and in a few chance encounters in airport lobbies or malls; I will fall in love, climb back out of it, and fall again, and maybe one day fall for the last time. When I return everything will have changed, myself included. Whether for better or for worse, we will find out when we find out.

In June I will take off to a new city and, in many ways, an entirely new life. I will meet new people and learn new things. I’ve often asked myself whether I’m ready, and although I still have no answer to the question, I know it won’t matter. The Universe won’t wait for me to be ready, it’ll just go when it wants to. Sounds like fun.

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

Woke up at around half past eight. Went to school to claim my copy of the yearbook. Found out it’s not ready yet. Sat around for a while, chatting with classmates, sharing our qualms about college and talking about other random things.

Went to McDonald’s, where I and a couple of my classmates were treated to lunch by Xavier. Afterwards we watched “How To Train Your Dragon” (tickets also courtesy of Xavier—thanks, Xav!); it was an engaging film, didn’t get bored at all.

Then I walked to church. We were supposed to hold rehearsals for this project we’re doing, but given that most of those involved didn’t show up, we called it off. We decided to play hide-and-seek. In the middle of our game the rain started to fall. We sought shelter.

As we watched the raindrops pelt the ground, one of the kids started playing in the rain. Pretty soon I was emptying my pockets and taking off my watch.

I hadn’t expected the rain to fall. I had brought neither a change of clothes nor a towel.

But still, I decided on an impulse to venture into the open and, for the first time in a very long time, play in the rain. It was the most cathartic thing I’ve ever done in quite a while.

Me and friends in the rain.

I’ve been so busy growing up that I’ve forgotten the joy of catching raindrops with your tongue, stretching your arms out, letting go and just feeling life.

I’ve found happiness—it’s in the raindrops.

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

By the time we settled ourselves in our billeting quarters in Tagum, however, the worst of my apprehensions were gone. The Tagum City government, headed by Mayor Rey Uy, took every measure to ensure our security and comfort as we participated in the five-day event, which centers on a timely and relevant theme: the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals and the need to achieve them by 2015. The result was a smoothly conducted, well-organized competition that brought out the best in all those who participated, and one that is definitely one for the history books.

Over the next few posts on this blog I will recount my NSPC 2010 experience day by day, from the unusually long opening parade to the kickass sendoff the genial people of Tagum prepared for us. Stay tuned for my account of the National Schools Press Conference 2010 in Tagum City.

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

I am pleased to report that I placed fifth in Feature Writing – English Secondary and third in the online writing contest sponsored by the Philippine Online Chronicles. I was also awarded as one of the country’s outstanding campus journalists along with 16 other writers.

A detailed blog post chronicling the prestigious event is in order, of course, but I’m still weary from all the stress and the traveling, so it might take a few days for me to come up with one.

In the meantime, stick around for a short letter I wrote to a girl I, uh, met, while I was in Tagum.

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

Thank goodness the school we’re billeted in has WiFi. It’s not school-wide, but it’s loads better than nothing. I will probably be able to go online a lot more during this year’s NSPC than I did in Naga last year. Stay tuned for constant updates; if you’re looking for results, I’ll try to get them posted here once they’re announced (closing ceremonies are this Thursday, I think).

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

Click for full-resolution image

Results of the University of the Philippines College Admission Test or UPCAT, which I and my batchmates took last August, were released today. Although results are still unavailable online due to technical difficulties with Globe Telecom’s connection, I was told I qualified for admission to UP Diliman’s Journalism program, praise be unto God!

To qualify for UP is probably one of the most coveted achievements a high school senior can hope for, and although Journalism was my second course choice (Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Accountancy being my first), I’m still shocked that I even passed the UPCAT. I remember how dizzying I found the Mathematics and Science portions of the exam to be. Certainly, I passed the UPCAT not because I have the smarts but because a Higher Power willed it.

Here is my secret to passing the UPCAT.

***

If you live in the Philippines and watch a good amount of local news, you will probably remember that the Iglesia Ni Cristo (of which I am a member) held massive gatherings in different locales around the country and the world in celebration of its 95th founding anniversary. What fewer people know is that beginning one month prior to the celebrations, we held daily devotional prayers (panata in Tagalog) for the success of our celebrations. Beginning June 22 (if I’m not mistaken), I made the daily ride to church right after school. Although congregational prayers in our locale were scheduled for 7.30pm nightly, I sometimes had to hold my own personal devotional prayers whenever I had UPCAT review classes to attend and couldn’t make it to the congregational prayers. Of course, I prayed primarily for the success of our celebrations (that was the reason for our panata, after all), but I also prayed that the Lord guide me during the UPCAT, that He bless me with a bright future if He so willed, and that above all, His Will be done. I asked Him to allow me to pass UP so that I wouldn’t have to enter a secular university in order to earn a proper education (INC members are highly discouraged from entering secular schools). I so prayed every day for more than a month, even after our July 27 celebrations, in the days leading up to the August 1 test date.

When I took the UPCAT, I felt my prayers were answered, inasmuch as I felt His presence and guidance. Sure, I found the test difficult, but I didn’t feel threatened (if that’s the right word). The moment I finished the test, I knew that I had been granted victory, the results notwithstanding.

Last week, in anticipation of the releasing of the results, I decided to hold another weeklong personal panata, this time asking that He give me the strength and wisdom to accept His Will. I asked Him to teach me how to use the outcome of the test, whatever it may be, to better serve Him.

Today I found out that I qualified for admission into UP. He heeded my prayers. He didn’t leave me alone. Praise be unto God.

I am fortunate to have been brought up learning to place my trust in the Lord. I was always taught by my parents and my elders in Church that no one and nothing in this world can be trusted, that my trust should be placed in the Lord, in the Lord always, and in the Lord only. I was always taught that He will never turn a deaf ear to the prayers of His chosen people so long as we never turn away from Him.

Today I once again saw that He has never deserted me and will never desert me.

This victory is not mine but the Lord’s. Praise be unto God!

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

***

A quick update on my reading. My journey through the classics of literature continues. I finished reading two notable works since my last blog post—”Lord of the Flies” by William Golding and “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck. Both were very interesting and very impeccably written.

“Lord of the Flies” plays on the concept of man’s inherent savagery which surfaces in the absence of order (which is to say, when man is stripped down to his bare essentials). I found it very easy to root for Ralph and despise Jack throughout the story. The gripping finale, when rescue arrives on the island just as Ralph is about to be killed by Jack and his men, manages to be both amusing and sobering at the same time. Golding succeeds in demonstrating through the novel the immutable fact that man is cruel and savage by nature.

“Of Mice and Men”, meanwhile, paints a pitiful yet inexplicably beautiful picture of America during the Depression. I can only imagine George and Lennie in their soiled clothes, denim jumpers and tattered straw hats bucking barley in a California ranch, dreaming of a carefree life tending to rabbits and living in their own simple home. The saddening truth that the farmhands will never earn enough money to realize their ambition is rivaled only by their admirable ability to believe otherwise. Also remarkable is the irony that breathes life into the two protagonists’ partnership. Imagine a heavyset man who often acts like a child taking orders from a short, wiry fellow who talks to him condescendingly.

Allow me a brief moment of unbridled sexism so I can mention the matter of Curley’s wife. A solitary woman in a masculine world is bound to cause trouble—Curley’s wife is definite proof of that. Only she and her locks of smooth, silky hair are able to lay waste to George and Lennie’s humble dreams of hakuna matata. This concept is far from new, of course (Genesis is an enduring example of how woman is often thought of as mankind’s ticket to damnation), but no portrayal of the idea I’ve read—so far, at least—is quite as heartbreaking as Steinbeck’s in “Of Mice and Men”.

***

My dad started teaching me the basics of driving recently. I’ve been doing most of my practice driving on the relatively deserted city bypass road—mostly just learning when and how to switch gears, all the basic stuff. On two occasions my dad let me drive the family car on long (long for me anyway) stretches of national highway. One time, I lost my concentration to the frenzy of a busy intersection—I had come to a full stop to allow perpendicular traffic to pass, and when I was clear to go, I switched to second gear directly from neutral (from a full stop, you must always go from neutral to first). Of course my engine shut off on me.

My three-point turn skills need more sharpening and I’m yet to learn to parallel-park.

***

In nine days, we will bid adieu to 2009 and say hello to 2010. 2009 was a crazy year, wasn’t it? We said goodbye to too many influential people (MJ, Tita Cory and Ka Erdy, to name a few), went through Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, and stood witness to a vicious murder that was committed in the name of greed, power and money. The year that was 2009 was nothing short of trying for the Filipino, but we successfully braved the storm as we always do, looking forward to the promise that the new year brings.

***

We had our annual year-end Thanksgiving at church today. I certainly have so, so many things I am thankful for and it is impossible to name each one. More impossible still is to fully repay the good Lord for the boundless blessings He has showered upon me, my family, and the Church throughout the year. Glory be to God!

***

[Image credits: "Of Mice and Men" book cover from Wikipedia]

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

Gloomy skies and relentless rains in the Timber City today.

A typhoon has befallen Butuan. The mountains encircling the city and our relative distance from the typhoon belt make us safe from nature’s wrath on most days, but for tonight the gods have made an exception. Classes were suspended this afternoon, although it remains to be seen whether the suspension will hold through tomorrow.

***

I finished reading “Catcher in the Rye” today. Fantastic novel. It is written quite crassly, even for today’s literary standards (and remember that the book was published in the middle of the last century).

I can see a little of myself in Holden Caulfield (the story’s protagonist)—detached, unwilling to conform to societal standards, determined to follow my own path. Then again, there must be a little bit of Holden in everyone. Only, others choose to keep him hidden and neglected, perhaps afraid of the uncertainty that comes with breaking free from stereotypes and living life spontaneously.

***

National Novel Writing Month 2009 will end in less than a week. Unless I stop going to school and lock myself in my room for the next six days and write to reach the 50,000-word mark , I will probably not win in this year’s NaNo. I must say, however, that this year was a lot less of a failure than last year (although big failures and small failures are failures just the same). I think I’m nearing the 2,000-word mark (I can’t be certain—I wrote with paper and pen, old school style, this year), as opposed to last year’s pitiful 500.

I’ve long since come to terms with the fact that I hold little novel-writing potential. A novel must have a riveting plot, engaging characters, vivid action and a fitting setting, and I am entirely incapable of creating any of those. Also, I notice the classics always have little nuances, motifs, symbols and themes ingeniously woven into their stories. I can even hardly make out the ingeniously woven nuances and symbols!

***

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.

At any rate, after stumbling upon the book, I decided to get myself a library card just so I could take it out. Never mind that this is the first time I bothered to get a library card and that I’m graduating in four or five months. I finished it today, and, unsurprisingly, I must say I enjoyed it very much.

After I returned the novella (four days before it was due—huzzah!), I went back to reading “Dreams From My Father”, Barack Obama’s poignant memoir. However, upon coming across J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” while going through the small collection of classic novels our library had, I decided to take it out. Hopefully I’ll be able to finish it before the weekend is over. “Dreams From My Father” will have to wait.

Actually, it might have to for a long time yet. “The Jane Austen Book Club“, which I was able to watch months ago on HBO, piqued my interest in Jane Austen, and the library has all her works (I think), so after “Catcher in the Rye”, I’m planning on going through as many Austens as I can.

You will notice that I’m just beginning to discover the classics, which is quite odd for a high school senior who labels himself a writer. I’m not sure I’ve talked about it so much yet, but I was introduced to leisure reading very abruptly. While many other bookworms of my generation entered the world of novels through Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew and their ilk, for me it was “The Da Vinci Code” by Dan Brown, about three years ago. Since finishing TDVC, I’ve read four of his five novels (I haven’t gotten around to buying “The Lost Symbol” yet—I’m waiting for the paperback version). After that I moved to Steve Berry (a less recognizable name, but he writes the same genre as Brown), and then to Coelho (deep stuff), and then a little Sidney Sheldon. It was only when Sir Jay gave me his copy of The Old Man and the Sea’s Barron Book Notes to read that I realized, “Why haven’t I gone through the really important works yet?”

Better late than never, I guess. Now, considering the breadth of English literature, it will probably take me a long time to go through the more enduring works, so if you want to suggest certain novels or works for me to read, I’d appreciate it.

Oh, and if you would for some reason or other like to see what books I have/am/am planning to read, visit me on Goodreads.

***

My fearless forecast for Manny Pacquiao’s impending bout with Miguel Cotto: Manny will lose. Whether by knockout or by numbers, I can’t say, but my gut feeling (which I myself have learned to trust with caution) tells me he will come home defeated.

This prediction was made solely by observing how both Manny’s and his mother Dionisia’s heads have swelled up recently. Here’s hoping Cotto knocks some sense into them.

Consider it, then, an earnest, well-meaning wish instead of a forecast: I hope Manny loses, for his sake.

#

Book cover of “The Old Man and the Sea” obtained from Wikipedia. Not used for commercial purposes. No copyright infringement intended.

©2010 Deantastic!. All Rights Reserved.