Batchmates Lost & ( Someday ) Found
November 25, 2008
...cuz someday YLB hopes to maybe bump into them, physically (on the street) or electronically (on the Net) , share that priceless moment of instant recognition, mutually shout "hoy ( our names ) ! Kaw ba yan ??? Long time no see pare / mare !!! "
There's also that China Airlines commercial where a man in his 50s or 60s shows the pretty stewardess a creased, sepia photo of him & his childhood pal taken an eternity ago. Unbelievably, in another part of the airplane, the other person in the photograph shows a similar picture to a stewardess (dont remember if its the same one), and with the omniscience of the CAL crew, the 2 bosom buddies are reunited after a half century. If you suspended disbelief for a while (c'mon, what are the chances of THIS happening??? infinitesimal, to say the least) the feel-good spillover of this vignette (and of course, the reflected kudos to the airline) was obvious. Once, in our lifetime, we would like a similar event to happen to us. But we're not holding our breath...
In the meantime, though, drawing from the dusty well of memories and reminiscing will have to do, because as Peggy Patches 1 likes to say, they are getting fuzzier by the day, and whether we like it or not, there may come a time when all we have left to ourselves are memories. For what use are artifacts and memory aids when we don't have the tool of memory to (re)connect them with :
in N-C AM (that's Nursery Section C, morning class), we had a very small, painfully shy classmate who we can only recall as Harry. He was tinier than us (and you know we're smaller than average), for the first few months regulary clung to his yaya / mom for dear life before the latter pried his hands off and left him to the tender embrace of Ms Nacu. Before long, he came to realize that the fellow animate beings in the room were children like him, gradually learned to interact with playmates like YLB, (future Doc) ivan T., vivian, jasmin, these are the only nursery mates we remember for sure. But every now and then, he would probably realize that he was not at home, look for his yaya before embarking on his plaintive wails. It would take a while before he would settle down. We remember him mostly because his weeping would bring the rest of N-C AM ever closer to the edge as most of us were near tears ourselves those first few months, outside the rarefied air of the nest, and only the supreme efforts of Ms Nacu to make us laugh, smile and realize we were just in a home away from home kept us from crying ourselves...
Jump to early elementary and we met a character that would be hard to forget, even three and a half decades later. Cynthia T was a whirling dervish, a veritable spinning top, the 1970s equivalent of an Allen Iverson that would spin and fake, dribble behind her back and between her legs on her way to the hoop, except that she didnt need a ball. She was like this probably 45 minutes every hour, even the most hard-nosed teacher found it hard to keep up with her, and us boys wisely chose not to. Recess and lunchtime she usually played with boys as the girls bored her, and what surprised us was that she was still not burnt out by the end of the day.
Dick V was usually clean shaven and brought pan de sal for merienda, was also quite shy but very playful during recess time. His buzz cut and the shape of his preferred snack gave him an unfortunate nickname, but this was precisely the appeal that he held for us: a charming oddball eager to befriend us. We were happy to be paisanos with him despite the fact that we came from opposite extremes: they probably spoke Chinese almost exclusively at home, while we spoke Tagalog in ours.
We think we mentioned Jeff Y before, the youngest version of a conspiracy theorist that we can recall. In Grade 3 or 4, he hazarded (not too far from the truth) a guess that organized, purposeful and unseen forces more powerful than you and I could ever dream of were behind current events. He was obviously very intelligent, but a little too praning for our taste.
In terms of memories and lifetime images, few grade levels can match that of Grade 6, where most of us were at the crossroads of childhood and teens. By the day, treasure troves of discovery were unearthed, opening our eyes to life and the world before us. We only mention here 6-E classmates beyond reach, but whom we know are only a mouse-click away if you use enough finder sites:
Gerald S was a natural leader, always brimming with ideas, and always ready to discuss who the (current) prettiest girl was...
Nelson T was the coolest nerd, already thinking of changing the world with his grandiose plans at age 12 or 13.
Simon S was the thoughtful, repartee kind of discussant, and these 3 memorables with YLB formed our beloved
SNEG, which lasted all of one year.
The first 2 moved to Xavier after grade 6, Simon moved to LaSalle. Am sure if there are XS and LSGH e-groups, they will be there.
Doubtless there are much more, we milked them dry but these are all the brain cells could come up with for now. What we would give to reconnect with any of these individuals. If we have offended any with the reveries here, advance apologies are sincerely offered. Regards to everyone, and advance Happy Thanksgiving to all !
YLB
NOel
PS. Sorry (if there are any left who regularly watch the e-group), a crafty and artful virus bored its way in and out of this gullible PC, and for some time (2 weeks) we were left with nothing but an empty shell. Using anti-virus scans, sweepers and related insecticides was like watching the barn door after the carabao had been rustled (is that an apt metaphor). Finally, the beast of burden was rid of the pestilence, and YLB will try to be back. Thanx for the facebook greetings jayciiz and janet.barrett & any1 else we may have inadvertently omitted... last 18th we officially reached the 1-yr milestone tobacco - free !!! God is good !!!