Friday, January 13, 2006

   what happened last Christmas '05

I
Christmas '05

yahooo!!!!!!!!!

at last... after so ,any weeks of grief, sorrow, impatience and agony i am able to use A computer!!!! wanna here the story?

........imaginary foggy bacground........

Christmas eve of 2005, I borrowed a really interesting game (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) from my cuz just next door. Even if our pc's suffering from really looow memory and an out of date motherboard *it's supposed to be windows 95 but mum upgraded it to windows 98 a few years ago*, I started to install it thinking "this pc's been here for a long time... this may work" and it did... although it won't work. The icon is in the descktop, the files are in thier proper places so I didn't think there was nothing wrong. So i uninstalled the game and restarted. To mu horror, windows won't start. Instead it said something like "the file _____ blah blah.. was erased and you will need to shut down your computer." then the screen wnt blank then orange words appeared sayaing "you may now shut down your computer"........ my heart was beating real fast.. my eyes went completely blank as if someone turned my power switch off then the next thing I saw was that my mother yelling loudly at me, getting my bag, telling me to start packing. To my relif I was just imagining things. So I called my mum thinking she could solve the problem but unfortunately, she couldn't. She thought there was a virus attack which caused the computer to crash. Mum doesn't know I know what caused the malfunction... but I CAN NOT tell her. Until finallllly, by night, I told her the whole thing. I told her I installed the game and in order for the game to fit in that tinie bit of memory left in our computer, it had to erase a file greatly needed to start windows... I was ready to here the loud and long "sermon" of my perfectionist mother but to my surprise... she didn't yell at me. But the sermon was there. She made me feel like an idiot saying like "you can't always get wat you want even though you reeeeaaallly want it.." etc... yeah.. you can say that again

Christmas: everything was so silent. I woke up alone, without the usual good morning and merry christmas greetings from my mum. I went down the stairs, opened my gifts from under the Christmas tree. I opened mum's gift last since I have this habit about "save the best for last"... and to my surprise, she gave me a mouse pad. But it wasn't an ordinary nouse pad... it's a mouse pad with frogs printed on the surface. I actually felt my heart melt. I stared at it for a looong time then I said thanks and greeted her in an ackward way..

ok.. i'll just stop there
i just don't want to write about it anymore....


too traumatic




take note: that happened the day before and during Christmas


Anyways... to cut the story short... days later mum and I became buddies again and she bought a new computer *i'm using it right now ^ - ^*

there....

I just narrated my worst Christmas ever....

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   Bauan

II
Exploring Bauan

On the second week of February 2005, we had an activity I’ve been waiting for, ever since my freshman year. It’s an activity exclusive to sophomore students… the ever exciting, ever memorable overnight activity, THE Bio Trip. I woke up at around quarter to three, took a freezing bath, ate my breakfast, and with dad, we left the house at around 3:30am, heading for school. It was around 4am and the sun wasn’t visible yet when we arrived at AA. I thought many will be at the multi by that time but I was shocked when I realized, I was the second one to arrive! So dad and I waited patiently inside our car until some of my friends arrived at around quarter to 5 already. I kissed dad goodbye and joined my friends at the multipurpose building. As the time went by, we increased in number till almost everyone was around. We boarded our bus, waited for some of the people who were late then we were off at about 6am. As the sun slowly rose and the moon stetted, I noticed that the moon was red. I checked my organizer and I found out that on that day a Lunar Eclipse is also happening. So I looked at the moon idly on the huge bus window as the speaker was talking about the rules, and other stuff. No wonder lunatics were named after the moon. I didn’t quite listen to the jokes the speakers told us since most of the jokes are “korni” jokes I already knew. The bus ride lasted for about 2 to three hours since we arrived at Bauan 8am already. I was REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, EXITED. When we stepped off the bus, we crossed the street to the seashore then we had a boat ride for about 10 minutes. That was the most memorable boat ride I ever had. Not only did my pillow get thrown overboard and got wet but the view was awesome, and the wind was blowing my hair, and the sound of the rushing water was just plain awesome. Also, it was here when I met the amazing dog named Bogart. He’s a golden retriever and a trick he does is when he sees trash floating on the surface of the sea, he makes a cute dive, and swims to it, grabs the trash in his mouth and returns. He also barks at boats when a boat gets too near the sanctuary because fishermen aren’t allowed to go there. There is also one dog, which I can’t remember the name but he/she is a dachshund. The first thing we did was we changed to our bathing suits and we swam at the ocean. I was again REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, EXITED to meet and greet the different fishes. I was part of the second batch to swim in our class so we went to one of our speakers and he taught us some of the marine life on the shore. Then I thought that it was my only chance to ask someone what’s the difference between a barnacle and kelp. He explained that a barnacle is a triangular shaped mollusk often seen stuck on rocks or even on the shells of other mollusks, while a kelp is a seaweed often found on the surface of the sea. When the first batch was done, it’s our turn to swim. I was REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY, EXITED again. I wore the flotation device or the life jacket and the snorkel, and because of the excitement, I forgot to remove my wristwatch. So I went back to my bag and placed my watch inside my bag and I went back to the practice zone. (It still works until now although the salt water made the strap brittle so the strap snapped to pieces.) I have never seen such exquisite beauty. It’s as if I fell in love with the surroundings. Everywhere I look is a different scene, as beautiful as the others. It’s as if I’m in the computer generated Disney, Pixar film “Finding Nemo”. I’ve seen many kinds of fishes such as fishes with rainbow scales, long fishes, and I even got up close and personal with Dory, Marlin, Nemo, Bubbles and the scarred fin fish from Nemo’s tank! The corals were in different colors… some huge, and others were pretty little. We drifted like feathers as we followed the current and as we are near the end, it was time to say goodbye to the fishies. Then we took a bath, rinsing off the seawater then we ate lunch. After eating lunch, we went again to our Kuyas and Ate (the speakers… I forgot their names but their faces still remain) because our next activity is trekking. We followed the path, climbing steep pathways, shouting “bamboo” if there is any bamboo you see that may need to be given notice to avoid accidents. I still have the scar I had when I scratched myself on a bamboo that is protruding form the ground. When we reached our destination, we felt tired and we can hear our legs screaming “We surrender!” Each of us sat on a stone or a few shared on a rock. Our speaker talked about how important water is. We even spent a minute listening to the sound of nature. All I heard were different twittering tones of birds, the sound of rushing water, and of course the swishing of the leaves. The tranquil sound was interrupted by a very loud FART, which was just a joke by our speaker. When we went back to our bags, we started to prepare for the dinner. We cooked our food and the teachers were the ones who judged our cooking. We were grouped by our IP groupings. After eating our spicy dinner, we had a little activity on making a song about Bauan per house. Then, we were given free time to prepare for sleep and clean up. Fran, Pia (from a different section) and I still don’t want to sleep so we lied down the ground nearest the sea and identified some constellations. Then when it was time to sleep, we slept in the tent we set-up before eating lunch. The tent was quite small so Blossom and Monica slept squatting. It was really cold that even with a blanket, I need to warm myself up. We were supposed to wake up at 5am but I woke up at about 5:30am because I love to sleep and I don’t want to accept the fact that we are going to leave Bauan. After dressing up, we met with the fisher folks and interviewed them. We asked them about many stuff such as how much are they earning etc. After the meeting with the fisher folk, we packed our bags, disassembled our tents and bade the Bauan goodbye. We rode the boat to the shore for the last time, and then we went back to our bus. When we went back to school, it was already their dismissal so I waited patiently for my school bus to arrive.
The memory is still crystal clear but I can’t really put everything into words. We must have Marine life Sanctuaries at least one in every beach we have since underwater “forests” is one of the most exquisite things on earth. We can also use these sanctuaries as tourist spots because these are really beautiful things God has given us and it is our job to take care of these things.

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   Beach

III
Beach

“Oi! Hulaton niyo ako!” (It translates to ‘Hoy! Hintayin nyo ako’ in Bicol dialect) those are the words I always say every time I step out of our owner type jeep parked on the sands of Rizal Beach in a hot summer 7am morning. The sea was wavy at that time and I loved it. I was always the last one to get out of our jeep since my mother kept on putting on lots and LOTS of sunscreen because she doesn’t want my complexion to be ruined (FYI: my skin color was once light). The harder I break away, the harder mom’s grip clutches my tiny 5-year-old arm. I then gave up, sat there and waited impatiently for mum to finish as I watch my titos and titas run through the feet scorching white sands then plunging in the ice cold blue water hugging their black “salbabidas” which seem like HOURS (FYI: My favorite titos and titas are only a few years older than me. Two are even younger!). As my mum put on the finishing touches on my face, I made a very irritated expression then she let go. I ran as fast as I could, setting aside the painful burning of my little feet, just for me to reach the reward I’ve been anticipating for. As I got nearer, I clutched by blue salbabida tightly and I leaped for the sea. I “swam” in circles, playing with my folks and pointing at fishes if any passed by. Playing with the jellyfish is one of our favorites; we get them using our bare hands, careful enough not to touch the tentacles and bringing it to the seaside, poking it, and waiting for it to melt in the sun till it becomes smaller and smaller until a puddle of seawater is left. By around 12 noon, (my shadow was small so I estimated it to be 12noon), our parents called us to eat pancit, pandesal, and icecream in a small hut they rented. Again, I am the last one to leave the sea, still splashing water everywhere until I saw mum coming near me. I didn’t want her to scold me for being stubborn, so I left and ran again to the eating area, this time complaining about the irritating sand between my toes and how hot the sand was. I ate my pansit while scrunching my eyebrows. As soon as I slurped the last of my ice cream, mum applied more sun block on me then I ran to the seaside this time picking shells. I walked on and on, looking at the sandy floor, bending my body every so often to pick up interesting shells, then putting them inside a plastic transparent bag, often used in making “ice-tubig”. Then I heard a distant call of my name. I looked back, realizing I was very far away from them. I hurriedly went back, handed the shells to my mother, and went back to the sea with my titos and titas. When swimming became a little boring, we sat by the sea-side making little sand castles with deep moats so that our creations wont get washed away by the waves. We also drew caricatures on the sand using brances from trees. We also created “sand balls” which we bump into each other’s sand balls then the owner of the ball, which remains intact despite the collision, wins. As the water gets colder and the sun hides behind the volcano, our parents call us, with our bags already packed up. I am, again, the last one to step back in the jeep. I really dislike the fact that the day is over and we have to leave the beach. When we arrived back in our house, I hurriedly went to the bathroom with mother, I removed my pink bating suite, and she rinsed the seawater off me, then we ate dinner, then we slept.
The next morning, something smelled awful in mum’s bag. We searched the bag only to find out there was a dead hermit crab in one of the prettiest shells I found. Even if it was hard for me to let go of the shell, we had to dispose of it. It really was stinky… words can’t describe it. But here’s a little description just so that you, my dear reader J, will have an idea how it smelled like: it smelled like a fish bought from a grocery store but unfortunately left alone in the trunk of the car.
Every summer vacation, we visit our house in Bicol, my birthplace, and we always swim in the beach every week since the beach is almost walking distance from our house. Unfortunately, something very sad happened to the beach, late last year (October). A mining place located in Rapu-rapo, Albay owned by an Australian firm dumped toxic waste into a creek, which found it’s way into the open sea, and eventually, affecting all seawaters nearby, including Rizal beach. If you went to the beach last December, you would see many fishes, starfishes, and other sea creatures floating in the surface of the water. Not only marine life was affected, but also the lives of the fishermen whose only job is fishing. Also, the beach is a “tambayan” of the youth who lives nearby. Last summer, when I visited the sea, the tourists increased in number compared to previous years. I thought that Rizal beach would become a popular tourist spot some day when every one will get tired of Boracay. But because of that incident, even if the toxic will somehow disappear, only a few people will swim there, thinking there still might be traces of the toxic waste and may affect their health. When I heard the news from my grandmother who lives there, I cried since the beach became part of my life. It’s as if a loved one died. I live here in Antipolo but every summer we go back to Bicol, meet with our relatives, and have fun with them in the beach. As I’m writing this paragraph I can’t help but cry. I have shared many memories with loved ones at that beach. I learned how to swim without a salbabida at that beach, I learned to float, and I also somehow practiced my drawing and sculpting skills. I can’t help but think about how to punish the toxic dumpers. I think they should pay $100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 to the Philippines, be crucified upside-down, electrocuted, feed them with the poisoned seafood they killed, and then eventually, be fed to the “butandings” (whale shark). Their lives and their money are not enough to repay the destroyed corals built by the ancestors of the fishes. Although the last part is quite impossible since they are not carnivores. Which reminds me since Bicol is the home of the great whale shark and they eat small fishes which are already dead or poisoned by now. Man I hate to think that the beach is already dead. Summer is getting nearer and I don’t know if I still want to go back to Bicol. It‘ll just bring sadness to me.

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