A Day in the Life of Mr. Weather in UP Diliman

0700H: Oh hey, Mr. Sun is up. The students are finally rushing to their first classes. Let's bring some hot air in, shall we?

0830H: Wow, lots of people walking around campus. I guess I'll just take a bit of a leak...

0850H: Hmm, kinda dark. Let's brighten it up a bit over here and continue the showers over the Science Complex.

0930H: I'm tired of Mr. Sun. Let me get the clouds to cover  up the campus.

1010H: Okay, I guess it's kind of hot here. Let me turn up the fans.

1020H: Hey, flying leaves! Let's turn it up some more, I want flying 'higad'.

1030H: Okay, maybe let's put some rain.

1050H: Stronger rain! Stronger!!

1115H: Okay fine, let's dry up the campus for a bit. Oh hey, I made new lakes!

1230H: It's getting really boring. Let's make Mr. Sun shine its brightest.

1320H: Hmm, uniformity's quite boring. I know! I'll put the rain in half of the acad oval staring from AS till Econ, rain in SC, sun in the Science complex, and lots of rain in Math! That should put up for a good two hours.

1430H: Never mind... Reverse!!

1600H: Aww, lots of students are outside again. Fine, I'll bring out the sun. I'll keep the winds though.

1620H: Sway, trees! Sway! Fly, papers! FLY!

1640H: I feel angry. Thunderstorms.

1730H: Oh, traffic along Katipunan. More rain!

1800H: Time to bring the rain somewhere else... let's dry up the campus again.

1900H: Fog time.

1930H: Sing, frogs! SING!

2145H: Fine, maybe I should call it a day. Oh, look! Kids walking with no umbrellas! RAIN!

2300H: If only I can produce hail storms...

0300H: Tsk. The rain's getting tiring. I'll stop now.

0530H: WAKE UP EVERYONE! RAIN!!

Last Week of First Sem Blues

Around two to three weeks left, we'll be finally in our sembreaks. After enduring the last stretch of exams, paperwork, sleepless nights of worrying for grades, and waking up for 7 am classes, it will finally be over. God, I can't wait. I just want everything to end already.

After this, no more studying. There'll be more time for FB, malling, bumming--no worries for deadlines either. Everything will be such a breeze. With the Halloween and Christmas seasons coming, we'd be getting really busy.

But wait, that'll mean in a matter of 21 days or less, that'd mean no more GE classes. No more mixed classes with other freshmen; no more interesting Wednesdays and Fridays gazing at cute profs; no more same classmates to fool around with; no more field trips in the next sem; more paperwork and majors to fear.

Aw crap, I don't want first sem to end yet.

Dear Readings,

Dear Readings,

What have I done wrong? Am I not always prompt whenever I pick you up from the photocopying stall? Haven't I always been faithful to your proposed reading sessions for my upcoming exams? Haven't I been patient enough to try to understand you no matter how many times you try to say something to me?

I appreciate the sleeping powder you give me whenever you try to help me during my exams, but that's not what I need. I don't think this one-way friendship is going to work well. I try so much to understand you, but every time I'm with you, I get lost. Sometimes, I question my purpose in life because of you. You make me worry too much.

I don't know what to do with you anymore. At least tell me something so that we get to work things out.

Sincerely,
A Confused Student

On Thinking Too Much

Many people say I think too much--too much in a sense that the things I think about get to me and make me sad. If one were to be familiar with me though, the things I usually talk contemplate about are about life and its possibilities. At other times, its mysteries.

There are times I wonder whether tomorrow will be sunny or rainy. Other times, I wonder if I'll get to eat ice cream or KFC chicken during my break time in school. Other times, I think of whether I'll meet someone I haven't seen for so long or a person I dread the most. Other times, I think of why some friends of mine don't keep in touch that much despite the fact we have FB and each other's cellphone numbers. At some times, I wonder why boys are such distractions in life.

But recently I've been thinking about death and its possibilities of happening. How many people are going to die today? Will I get run over by a car if I pass this street? Will I be caught in a car accident while on my way to school? Will I contract a disease one day and die instantly? Is there some sickness I actually have but haven't discovered yet? Will I drown today if I go swimming? Will I get to see tomorrow? Will I even wake up tomorrow?

Many people say I think too much--too much in a sense that I scare people other than myself. Perhaps, with my thoughts, I probably do, but isn't that how life is?

My Significant Childhood Experience

Back in grade school, my batchmates and I would spend our lunch times together catching earthworms especially during the rainy season. We would always wait for the lunch bell to ring and anticipate the teachers to dismiss us so that we could run out to the field and dig up holes on the wet soil. Each lunch time was always a new set of worms to catch. If we can't catch any because of the rain or because we can't find any, we always had tomorrow to look forward to. We also had grasshoppers and dragonflies to keep us company. It was during those days that we had the time of our lives.

One afternoon, I was walking through the school field and noticed that it seemed different. Different, in a sense that something was missing. I surveyed the area and noticed that the earthworms weren't there. I let a few days pass and went back to the area. They still weren't there. The days turned into weeks, then into months, but still no earthworms. In due time, it made me realize that maybe it was time for the earthworms to go. It felt kind of sad, knowing that most of us wouldn't be able to play with them anymore. I guess they had their time.

Maybe, same goes to our childhood. In one way or another, it shall soon come to pass through the progression of time.

Early Mornings

I dread waking up really early in the morning. The groggy and heavy feeling I experience when I force myself up just ruins my mood. I tend to get ill-tempered and fussy especially when I'm woken up the wrong way. But when I do get to stay awake, everything changes. I get to observe the stillness of everything and hear the silence of the world. I see nature do it's own thing; the sun peeks out from the east, the flowers on the ground stay still, waiting for the sun to come out, the birds do their wake up calls, the cool morning air starts to disappear--everything seems to fall into place, undisturbed from boisterous noises from people.

Whenever I get to stay awake, a pleasant feeling is felt. Towards what, I don't really know. Then, in a few moments, the sun is already visible and all things seem to face it, acknowledging its presence. And all the little things I get annoyed of to the biggest problems I ponder on seem to be drowned away by pure light.

Today I Walked Through a Hallway

It was well lit for a very cloudy day. The hallway was fairly empty since students were having their classes. Occasionally I would hear laughter from a certain classroom, then the muffled room noise from another. When the silence settled in, it prompted me to find a spot for me to settle down and do my work.

Just then, I stared at the empty hallway and noticed another hallway turning to one side. It made me think; I said to myself that today, I might see a kid peeking behind the wall. Or a cat coming out from the hallway. Or a dirty woman with messy clothes limping towards me. Or maybe,  an old man, probably a war veteran, asking for help. Anything could come out from there, I thought.

I wondered what I'd do if I'd actually see those kinds of things.  Would I just stare? Would I scream? Run away? One thing's for sure; I didn't see them that day.

I wonder what would happen if I passed another hallway.

On Being Twins

Many people wonder what it feels like to have a twin and often ask me about it. To be honest, I don't really know; in reality, having one is just having a brother/ sister who looks exactly like you., who has the same age as you, and celebrates the same birthday as  you (well, most of the time). There was one thing that piqued my interest though; following what my sister once said, "What if [being twins] was just an illusion? What if you've been talking to yourself all along? Or looking and staring at your own reflection?" If twins were to exist that way, would they still be considered two people? Would they still have separate identities, or will they be existing as one person living with two minds? Which twin would be considered real? After all, they come from one and and the same egg.

Each day I'd think about the idea, and little by little I realize the mind-boggling mystery of why twins actually exist. Maybe, in a parallel universe, there might be people who live with one other person inside them acting as their conscience. If this were to exist though, which twin will exist and which one will be the conscience?

Quotable Quotes

"You'll never know if there is a monster hiding under your bed uneless you go and find out for yourself."

Process Notes 1 (Writing Exercise)

Initially, my approach for the story was that a person named Danielle gets into a tiny mishap where her yarn ball (which she was using to crochet a teddy bear) rolls to the street in front of AS and she happens to meet a kid asking for food; hence the title "'Cos Sharing Meals is Something I Wish the World Can Do". I wanted to write a story of light subject matter, but I guess due to the various imaginations of my classmates who altered my story, I ended up writing about death.

Funny how different perspectives of a story at first glance can literally change a story of light themes to (morbid, probably?) ones. I expected that my classmates would follow my trail of thought due to the simplicity of my plot, but I guess they just wanted to put some thrill to it. But If I think about it more, this would be a cool start-off point to write more stories; something like sewing different patches of cloth to make a different kind of shirt, probably.

Last Night

I dreamt that all families were gathered in a huge auditorium and certain people were hosting a "supposedly event". They were dressed really lavishly and one of them, a woman in heavy make up, had a very large sack with things inside it. She started pulling those "stuff" out and throwing them to all of us who were seated, expecting us to catch them. By the time I caught my item, I studied it very carefully. It was a Swiss knife, I thought, but as I looked at it more I realized it was too big for a Swiss knife. It was actually a contraption full of blades of all sorts of shapes. As I looked around I realized that  the woman threw weapons for us to use. Then, she was announcing something to us in a language we could not understand, but I was certain she strongly implied to us that we use those weapons to kill each other. We were then "dismissed" (as what she said so in the dream) and given time to find our hiding places all over the city and wait for a time bomb to detonate, signifying us that we start the bloodbath. If I'm not mistaken, non-compliance would mean killing yourself with your own weapon.

I hope society does not end up like that.