Diane Sta. Maria’s blog

Speaking of marriage, everyone's getting married before me. Really. As in everyone. I wonder how the really old single ones feel? I mean, am 26, with a boyfriend and yet when i hear stories of people getting married I can't help but feel even a tinge of jealousy. And to think that I am not really the kind of girl who dreams and lives to get married.

I really don't know what to feel that's why I'm ranting on this. You see, I've got lots of plans and i told myself that am really getting married at 28, when i'm AVP and all. As a teener, I never dreamt of how my wedding dress would look like, but rather, I imagined how my corner office would look when I've become this young hotshot. And when the topic of getting hitched is brought up, I cringe. So it's really got me wondering why i am bothered that all my college girlfriends who had younger relationships than mine have ended or will soon end at the altar. 

Sometimes am wondering.. if we're not going there, am I not wasting my youth being with someone? I do love him and we do have plans of being together forever, man and wife, or whatever you call it. But since it's put on hold til we realized our personal dreams, would it be healthier if we just well.. give each other space? I don't know. Just thinking aloud. 

On the other side, it's also sad to think that maybe other people think the reason why I'm still single is because I'm not exactly the woman that guys marry. Like Jen is and Angelina isn't. Or that the man I'm with has no plans for me 'coz i'm good for show but not to be forever in tow. Get what I mean?

Oh well...

It happened in such a whim. I know, it’s unwise as he’s much older than I am and I haven’t known him long. He’s the dangerous kind with the most gorgeous looks that cannot be trusted. His eyes are in a different color and I couldn’t see right through them. But when I stare at his perfect brown eyes, I melt. My heart knows it has found it’s perfect pair.

That’s why last night I eloped and married Edward Cullen.

No, I’m not hallucinating. I married him. And that Bella? Gosh, she’s just a pastime; a snack. Oh, not even a snack. She’s just the soup before the appetizer. Edward told me last night that I am his main dish and the dessert in one.

I love Edward Cullen. I love it when he has his sunglasses on; wishing that his arms were around mine. And the way he plays the piano, gosh, he sweeps me away. The way he looks, he moves, he kisses, oh my, I’m melting. Really.

Last night after our wedding, after our first time to make love (he was really good you know, but I will not delve into details of that) we were discussing were to settle. I am okay with settling at Forks, since the truce with the werewolves and all, and the place is really peaceful and comfortable. But Edward has qualms about it. He said that Bella, the obsessive Bella, is there and this bitch might run after him. But of course, he didn’t say it in those words as he is a true blue gentleman. Well he was always like that, that’s why this Bella thought that Edward is really in love with her. But in reality, he was just being nice to her.

People believed Bella’s story that Edward loves her and all. But you know, Edward only rescues her because, she threatens to have a vampire bite her and spread the “vampireness” to helpless victims. Sort of an emotional blackmail. Enough about the B- girl.

As I was saying, we were thinking of a place to stay in. I would really love to settle in Spain or Mexico or Greece. But I took into consideration that it’s really sunny there. He was okay with it, he said, anywhere I want to, he added. But I don’t wanna be selfish you know. I don’t want to take advantage of his kindness.

So we might, might go back to Alaska. But again what worries him is that the place might be too cold for me, as I grew up in a tropical country like the Philippines. We are thinking of Hongkong or China as he hadn’t live in an Asian country in his 90 years of existence. By my reservation there is that we might be too noticeable in these countries ‘coz we completely look different from the natives.

Anyway, after some pillow fights and swarm of kisses in the middle, we finally agreed to give Ireland a shot. Carlisle is friends with Sean Connery (it’s where Connery came from) and he might be able to take us in for a while and people would think that we look different coz we might be movie stars like Sean.

If you ask me, had he bitten me yet? No, not yet. I’m not as feeble as Bella so I was able to endure his super strength. We’re also picking up a date and a place where to do it. Maybe somewhere really romantic, like the Eiffel maybe. I don’t know. Will update you, I promise.

We’ll be leaving for Italy in ten minutes. Edward insists that we buy my winter clothes there—you know leather jackets, Louboutins, etc.---so I’m well-armed for our visits to Alaska and Forks.  I told him that there are good shops in the Philippines or in the US where  can get my stuff. But he insists that I use only the best stuff and the best brands. I am kinda hesitating at first but he looked at me with those golden pleading eyes, and of course, I just gave in. I’m just human.

Hey I gotta go! Will catch up with you guys later! If I don’t get up, Edward my carry me off again!

I have resolved, starting today, that I will carry my digital camera along with me everyday. Each day promises a great surprise--an unplanned wonderful experience, a new resto to try, or a great hair day. How could I have let the past 26 years of surprises pass without me chronicling it?! Sayang.

So starting tomorrow (may I correct myself coz I forgot my cam at home) I will try to capture all these great moments in my life. Sayang all the restos we’ve visited, the beaches we’ve ran around on, and the great “kodak moments” if they will just breeze by and years from now, be forgetten.

Speaking of photos, I organized my Friendster albums last night. After five years of being a member of the social networking site, it’s just now that I have come to my senses and convinced myself that I need to fix the photos of my life. It was actually relaxing to fix the albums. And I realized that in just the past couple of years, my hair have been dyed in five different colors and cut in four different hairstyles--that is excluding the bangs I had for two months which I have now resolved to grow long again. Just goes to show how easily I get bored. And too bad, my hair always becomes the victim of my spells of boredom.

My weight had also gone on some see-saw. First was the really sickeningly thin-no money-me in Eastwood, where I worked and was overworked and underpaid. So naturally, I got thin and ugly and old. (I even looked older then than I am now). Then in 2005, I started to grow the unwanted hips. In mid-2007, I shrunk again because of my weird stomach illness. And slowly, from August 2007 to January 2008, I ballooned to a weight that I swore I will never reach again (I was fat!). Then finally now, just five pounds away from my ideal body weight.

With all these changes, that seemed to pass by me as I was fixing my albums, I have resolved two things: never to get fat again, and never to have my hair curled again.

It’s a good thing to chronicle life through photos. In my case, I have seen how I’ve grown (literally and figuratively) in the past years. The things I don’t notice everyday are reflected in photos and through these I get to tell myself the little successes and triumphs I got in the past few years.

But there is one thing that stays the same in my photos, you know. It’s my family and my super duper hunk of a man, Jedd. :)

I haven't written in this blog for quite some time. Well, probably because nothing much great has come up. Or probably because i got hooked into other things... Like school, which we had an assignment almost every week. And oh, of course the Mystery Case Files which really got me addicted to it in the last couple of days.

Last Saturday, I watched the UP vs UST and DLSU vs ADMU game. Well, I really went there because of the DLSU vs ADMU game (bec my boyfriend and his friends were rooting for Ateneo), but on the sidelights, i really intended to watch the first game which featured my alma meter, Unibersidad ng Pilipinas.

FIne, of course, as expected we lost. Six minutes into the game, UP's star player Woody Co got injured and then another one, followed suit. The guys sitting in front of me, high school ateneans I presume, shouted "Lampa, Lampa!" I wanted to strangle their necks you know, but my boyfriend stopped me.

I find it really funny how other schools treat their varsity players like Gods. In Ateneo Loyola Schools, supersize tarpaulins of their basketball players line up their main avenue as if they were heroes or something... I find this absurd, you know. I don't understand this. I mean, how good are they at school? Or how good are they with their girlfriends or family? Are they worth to be heroes because they are good at shooting balls?

In UP, varsity players are nobodies. They are your average college kid that tries to make it to school. An ex-UP-basketball player who joined PBB, even admitted to being bullied in college. Because you know, if you are a varsity player in UP and you act "ma-angas" the fratmen will bully you. Why? Because UP peeps know that most of (not all, coz there are some who are really smart and cool) the varsity players got in to UP not because of creativity or intelligence. They got in because they are good at sports. And in UP, sports is not really that well, how do i say it, revered. Brains not brawns matter. Those who are good ats sports but not good in school are uncool. Unlike in other schools. There's no place in UP for air-head varsity players.  

Probably this is the reason why UP don't win in the UAAP. It's the culture. The basketball players don't get that much preferential treatment, they don't get to date the hottest girls in school, or they are not treated as gods, that's why they don't exert that much effort. They give time to schooling. 'Cause that's the culture in UP. It instills in you that there's life after college; moreso, there's life more than basketball.  

So sa mga taga-UP, the next time we lose in a basketball game, let's just show: Quiz Bee na lang!! :)

My brother was 14 and my sister was turning twelve when I was born some 25 years ago, that’s why during my school years, both my siblings were in college and practically had their own liberated UP lives. Both my parents were working and most of the time in attending to their businesses in Manila. So most of the time, I was left in our Antipolo home while I was growing up. I had no playmates since the village where we live didn’t have kids running down or playing patintero on the streets that time. So I practically grew up alone. I would remember always looking out our bay window whenever its raining, wondering how it feels to play under the rain with other kids, unlike the “playing under the rain” moments that my mom orchestrated to ensure that I go through the normal kids’ stuff.

My yaya used to tell my mom that she would always caught me talking to myself. Well, what will I do? I have no one to talk to? I had nobody to share my childish stories with at home. My yaya was more interested in watching Aguila then, than attending to me.

Then I befriended Jo. Eventually I got to knew about the March sisters. We played together, dreamed together, cried together, and grew up together. Since then I never felt alone. I have the Little Women by my side.

Little Women, my favorite book ever, changed my life. At eight, I was immersed in this novel by Louisa May Alcott, and through this, I instantly have the sisters and playmates that I have been dreaming of. I ran with them, learned to sew with them, fell “in crush” with them; I had instant sisters from far away land who showed me the world every flip of the book’s page.

Since then, I got hooked in reading. The Secret Garden came after, then the Sweet Valley Twins. Through books I was able to gain instant friends and family who showed me the world through the eyes of characters of my own age. From the usually quiet child who had no one to talk to, I became the upbeat talkative me who had lots of ideas, that my mom didn’t know where I got from.

I gained my confidence and my carefree persona from reading books. I am always fleeting, flying : thinking that the world out there is bigger and my take on life became more "wordly." My mom was really fascinated thinking that I might grow up a loser as i was always curled up in bed reading Sidney Sheldon while my neighbors started to study rollerblading. Being alone, she was really shocked that i became quite popular in school and all. But you know, every after book i finish, a new me emerges -- a more experienced and open-minded me. And somehow, the kids in class are happy and eager to hang out with me, coz of my crazy ideas and fun take on life.   

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Not a lot know that I am more of a bookworm than a fashionista. I have never spent more than a thousand over a single clothing, but always had with books. Book became my security blanket : I read when I am sad, afraid, or confused; when I’m in love or happy. Friends come and go for me, but books stayed beside me. Always.

This was also the reason why I first took creative writing in college. I am in debted to the writers who have wrote beautiful books and made me feel secure during my lowest moments. And I know that the only way I can pay them back is if pay forward by returning the favor by writing stories that would also affect the lives of others.

Up to now, i have this advocacy towards reading. I want everybody around me to read so they too, will know, the joys i get from reading. Books have really changed me. No, books made me, whoever I am right now. The Little Women have changed me my life. I once the bring of going insane, for God's sake. I had the makings of being a loser, you know? But Jo, Meg, Amy, and Beth (God bless her soul), were there to make me see life and be my first friends. Thanks girls, til we hang out again.

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My Book Prescriptions:

For women : Little Women, Louisa May Alcott

For soul searching : Veronika Decides to Die

For those who have lost in love : Peel My Love Like An Onion

For those who want to fall in love : Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, by Stephenie Meyer

For dieters : Why French Women Don't Get Fat

To scare the hell out of you : Stephen King's Night Shift

To bore the hell out of you : The Hobbit (R.R. Tolkien) hehe.

To build your personality : How to Know God

To destroy others : Art of War

To join the bandwagon : The Alchemist

To start with Dan Brown : Angels and Demons

To appreciate Garbriel Garcia Marquez : Memories of My Melancholy Lovers

You know when things just fall into place and everything you want, you got? Aaaah... sweet, right? That's what my boyfriend and I felt last Saturday.

Probably since it has been a long while since we have gone out on a real date that's why it's as if the hands of fate are moving on our side. Our usual Saturday date is dinner, movie, coffee. But since alternately, my boyfriend and I were out of town for the past couple of weeks, it has been a month since we have done this date ritual. Not to mention that the last time we attempted to go out, my boyfriend had an amoebiasis attack.

For a long while, we haven't felt "mag-boyfriend." During the weekdays, we practically live our own lives. We did our own errands. We drove own cars. We had our own stuff to do. Our date is basically our bonding over traffic during weekdays, which by the way had been shorter since there's lesser traffic now.  So saturday, was big for us.

Giving in to the media hype (which i may say is not just hype), we decided to see Dark Knight in Greenhills Promenade. Expectedly, traffic was really heavy. Cars were lining up the parking lot beside Krispy Kreme despite the "full parking sign." We were one of those "cars." But you know what, just at the time we were entering, one of the cars near the entrance was leaving the parking space. And there was no car on hazard waiting! Wow, it was really, wow! Unbelievable. We were able to park at once while the other cars who had been waiting under the rain, ogled in envy.

Then it was time to purchase the movie tickets. The last time i saw that long a line was during Harry Potter. When we got there, all the movie tickets were sold out. 8:40, sold out. 9:45 sold out. nothing. My boyfriend, got disheartened because he was really excited about the movie. He would want to have one of those who have bragging rights over the week to be the first ones who have seen the latest Batman movie. Then we walked towards theatre mall to canvass for a cellphone. On the way there, we passed by the Theatre Mall. Being a bunch of stubborn kids, we tried to purchase tickets. And you know what? On the screen that shows the vacant seats for the Batman movie, there were eight free seats available. We lined up hurriedly. There were six more people lined in front of us and were really praying that none of these six would hoard the tickets. Again, our prayers have been answered.

Our lucky streak went on. We were able to eat at Las Paellas, a new cafe in Greenhills which serves relatively cheap baby back ribs... which i have been craving for the whole week. I wouldn't say here how wonderful batman is because that would require a whole new post to do justice to the movie. Since my boyfriend treated me to movie and to the sumptuous dinner, I told him that coffee was on me.

We went to Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf for coffee. I ordered caramel latte while my bf ordered white chocolate dream. My bill was P245. As i was paying, i remembered that I still have the pink card, one of CBTL's promo cards where you get your 13th coffee cup for free. I asked the barista if they still honor it. And of course, luck was really on my side. I had our coffee for free.

Just the week before, I had a stalker calling me. Last Saturday, there were no signs of the stalker whatsover (speaking of stalker, i have an update on him, which i'll make kuwent tom) There are just those days that are really great just like Saturday. Oh, the hands of time. Sometimes your up, sometimes your down. I loove it when im up.

The date was nothing flimsy or anything. But you know, it was one of our most perfect dates. We had the perfect parking, the perfect seats, the perfect movie, the food, the perfect coffee, and most of all, the perfect boyfriend (who loves me and loves to treat me). 'Til the next perfect dates!   

Girls hate me, and guys love me. In my 25 years of existence, it had never once failed that when I'm new in a class, in an office, or even in a gathering, the girls talk about me behind my back (hating my guts), as the guys troop to me, trying to be my instant best friend. I mean, I am not THAT gorgeous. There are far more more beautiful girls than I am. Taller, sexier, prettier. Yet, girls probably have made it their mission to despise me. To talk about me and look at me with daggered looks.

Yesterday, we had a product briefing at the office. The male attendees, those I know, went out of their way to say hi to me, or talk to me. While the girls, some I know better than the guys seem to just pass by me. Like I was not there. When I was trying to get food from the crowded room, three middle-aged women were standing by the food table. Naturally, of course, i'd pass where they were standing. I said, "Excuse me," then smiled. But you know what? They didn't budge. They just looked at me like I was Madonna in a cone-shaped bra, entering a church.

I studied elementary in Holy Spirit School in New Manila. Most of my classmates were really sosyaleras. They had swimming pools in their homes, their yayas were in uniform, and had some Spanish blood in them. The likes. So I grew up in that kind of set-up. I was great in English because my friends and I really talked in English when we were kids. It was the most natural thing for us.

In 1995, traffic in Katipunan was really terrible because that time, the Katipunan flyover was being constructed. So my parents thought that it would be better if i studied nearer our place, in Antipolo. So they transferred me to St. Scholastica's Marikina.

The first few months of my life in St. Scho was hell. Everybody hated me. Of course, i was used to speaking in English so when i introduced my self I used fluent and "twangy" English. Apparently, the kids there aren't used to that. Marikina, being like a province, my classmates were not the "sosyaleras" i grew up with. They did their own laundries and rode tricycles to school. For them, i was too maarte. And since they felt i didn't belong, they made my life really miserable.

They laughed at my "plastic bag," which later they discovered was the lates mdoel from Benetton. They laughed at my half-boots, which eventually became the "in" thing in school. And they laugh at me cause i talk too much English. Is it my fault? Once my close friend then (daughter of the owner of Sta. Lucia) had to go to the library for research one Saturday morning. When we got there, the "siga" girls of our batch were waiting for us on the stairs of the library. They shouted at us. They bullied us. They shooed us away. Literally, we ran away from them. It was just the two of us and they were a pack. We didn't know what to do.

Sometimes they called me "maglulupa," I didn't know why. Sometimes they called me "joklah." I didn't know why too. Probably because I was different. I don't know. Or they were insecure coz i stood out and the guy teachers, whom they have crushes on, had crushes on me.  

Eventually, the siga girls became my friends. Eventually they found out that I was cool and all. I got into cheerleading, into theater, and led the class to win a dance competition. So, eventually, they all want to be associated with me. But you know, they thought I have forgotten the bad stuff they have done to me. But I didn't. It was traumatic. I was scared to go to school that time and I cried myself to sleep. Class was like hell for me. I didn't know where to place myself. When i answered correctly in class, they look at each other as if i said that Jesus Christ was my boyfriend. When i answered wrong, they laugh like I fell flat on my face.  

People wouldn't know that I have underwent this trauma in high school. I mean, I was popular (at least, I think), had good grades, hang out with the prettiest girls in school and all. But you know, I did. Nerds are not the only ones being bullied.

Now, everytime i see them and see that like they have never outgrown high school -- i smirk. It's vengeance on my part. Though they became my quasi-friends, deep in my heart is an anger. They almost made me quit school. Honest. That's my life when i'm thrown into a pack of girls. 

College was a whole different story. I went to UP and of course, it was coed and all. The girls there were of different breed. Probably they were more focused on making the lives of their families better that's why they didn't care much about my knee high boots. The guys, were of course all friendly. The two straight guys in our block always made sure to sit near me. (the other one eventually became my best friend). The lone guy in our PE class became my boyfriend. The young french professor whom everyone salivates about became my boyfriend too. I have complete readings because someone always try to volunteer to do it for me. 

I'm not trying to say that I'm a guy magnet or anything. And my closest friends can attest that I'm no flirt. Not at all. In fact i'm on the border of being mataray to guys. But you know, they love me. And I think the girls hate me for that.

Yes, it is a good thing. It makes me feel really good. But you know, it stops me from fostering real friendly relations with guys. If let's say another girl hugs a guy, it's okay. It's nothing. But when I look, just look, at a certain guy, it's different. People will make out something else out of it.

I am thankful for my God-given gifts and as my boyfriend says, some girls would kill for your body etc. (but then of course he's my boyfriend that's why he' saying that) but yet, sometimes it feels like it's stopping me too to have more friends. The girls, no matter what I do, will hate me. And the guys, as always, will love me... but a bit too much.

My liberated best bud, who sports six pierces—two on the navel—and de-virginized two college kids in her teens, is getting married to her Englishman in India. The other, who suffered a series of heartbreaks to PBA superstar wannabes is also strangling her neck, rather tying the knot, with a man she met in Boracay a year ago. Yet another toured the wedding fair last February with her boyfriend of five months, scourging for a nice place to have their wedding reception.

What has the world gotten into? Why is everybody getting married? With the things are going, I will not be shocked if Brangelina is up next.

Some women have their goals of getting married at 25. Some at 21. I -- I never imagined myself getting married. As my friends visualize what cut of wedding gown or what appetizer to serve on their weddings when we were in our teens, I cringed at the idea that along with getting married is the reality that I would need to wash somebody else's underwear other than my own. (Eeew!)  As they wish that their boyfriends they had at that time be the man they will marry someday, I, on the other hand, wished that the man I was with then, be not the man I will marry someday.

I’m sure people will say I am sour-graping. Because at 25, with a three year old relationship, no giant overstated rock, found its repose on my fourth finger. Mind you, I had three marriage proposals in my young life, all of which I answered “Someday.” And though with my stark red hair, tight clothes, and heaven-high stilettos, guys still deem that by a long shot I can be the marrying type... someday.

Which, I think, is the reason why they all want to marry me : they want to tame the wild child. In this dating jungle, men are naturally the predators. And it excites them that to catch the most elusive prey. So, me, not having the intention to get married in the near future, makes me a more attractive prey to guys who love the chase. Who, by the way, are usually the good guys who don't wanna settle for an easy lay.

It keeps me wondering why women loves settling down. Why do they pressure their man to get married? Not that I am saying that my friends pressured their boyfriends, (I know they didn't, it's love. Aww... shucks!) but you know, women love to talk about marriage; love to air out how they want their wedding dress to bare their newly-scrubbed backs; love to shriek at crappy wedding movies. 

But you know for me, we're just starting our lives. We're just starting to earn a lot. To buy the perfume we want. To buy the car we just dreamt of before. To eat at the restos we only read in magazines before. To start travelling, read the most expensive hardbound books. We're just starting to live the single life. Why go on a double at once? Get what I mean?

I know someday there would come a time that I'm gonna get tired of my single life. (But i'm guessing that would be quite a long time still). But until then, I'm gonna live my life to the fullest and refuse to give in to the pressure of being the next bride-to-be.

I'm passing up on the bouquet... for now.

The only good thing about the high oil prices is that there's lesser traffic. Ever since gasoline (Unleaded) hit the 60 peso mark over two weeks ago, our usual one and half to two hour drive from Makati to my place (somewhere in the foot of the Antipolo hills), was trimmed down to 45 minutes. Because of high price of gas, lesser people now bring cars to work and result to commuting. Some are more ingenious, that they opt to car pool. And some, just don't leave home anymore, especially if where they are going to is not that important. 

Last night, my boyfriend had dinner at Rockwell. We left Rockwell, at 8pm. Before, it would take us an hour from Rockwell to my place. But last night, we were already home by 8:30. I even got to watch Iisa Pa Lamang, the newest primetime tearjerker in ABS-CBN, starring Claudine Barretto, who I think is the most prolific actress of her time.

So in effect of all these price hike, the car - riders, who are really hard-headed and lazy and too maarte to commute get to save up more on gas. Lesser traffic, lesser gas consumption, right? Thank you to those who don't bring their cars to work anymore. You made our lives a little bit sweeter.

In a class, it's easy to decipher a freshie from a non-freshie. A freshie usually comes in early for class. Ten minutes at the least. When he arrives, he has with him an armload of photocopies of the readings that the teacher assigned. And mind you, these readings aren't just for display. He actually read it, not the night before, but right after the teacher assigned it. When he gets to class, he huddles with fellow freshies and they discuss the readings. They sit right at the middle of the class (not in front because they are scared of too much limelight and not too far back because they want to participate in class), and in the center is the perennial "leader" of the group, as the cliche in teenybopper movies are, who makes manipulates and controls the conversation. Leader tries to be funny. The rest of the freshies laughs, even though the joke wasn't funny at all.

Then we got the non-freshie. He nevers come early to class (if he ever does come to class) and when he arrives, he only have with him a pen and a scratch paper, which maybe he grabbed from somewhere, just to project the image that he actually intend to take down notes during the class discussion (but in fact, he'll just scribble on it later or fill the paper with different drawings showing un-godly angles of the professor). He doesn't have an idea whatsoever about the assigned readings, he will not intend to have an idea about the readings, and he really doesn't care about the readings. He's just there for the attendance. And probably to catch a glimpse of the cutie in class.

A slice of a graduate student's life.

You think high school is different from graduate school? Nope. Not really. 'Coz no matter how mature or how old a person is, when he goes back to school, he will be warped back to becoming a kid once again. A silly, stupid high school kid. There is something about school that makes a person immature, you know. He will miss deadlines. He will not pass his assignments. He will make fun of the teacher, one way or another. He will doodle during class. And he will always cut class.

School emits a different environment. It makes you be less responsible. Maybe because you know you are the one paying the school, not the other way around. Or maybe it's the smell of photocopied readings. Or the thought that, once again, you are under some rules that you have to follow and for that, as human nature is, you try to rebel. Or probably you are boxed in a classroom setting, and somehow a person needs to claim a certain prototype or image to make the relationship within the class, harmonious. 

Freshies are a rare breed. They last for only one semester. When they step on the next sem, they are no longer freshies. They stop photocopying the readings. They stop huddling together. They stop reading. They stop going to class. Welcome to the real world of schooling.

And whatever level it is, the prototypes of school will always be present. The hot girl in class, the stupid jock who pretends to know something, the nerdy guy who has a crush on the hot girl, the foreign exchange student whom everybody is so nice to (even if they don't speak much),  the chubby class clown, the silent type hearthrob, the irritating boyfriend-girlfriend (always PDA), and the super smart ones who always have assignment making the class look bad.

* * * *

In Ateneo, where I am taking my masters now, there are a lot of fluent English speakers. I am not sure why. They sound soo... English. Once inside the CR cubicle, I overheard two girls, each occupying a cubicle next to the other, talking about Mamma Mia. Once said, she saw it New York. The other said, she saw it in London. Then they started discussing about the other plays they have watched in Broadway, the pocket plays they saw in France, etc. etc. Intrigued, I waited for these two girls to come out. One sounded like Bianca Gonzales, the other like hmmm... how do i describe it... like Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde. So I waited. When they came out, they were not at all as what I expected them to be. They are both ultra thin, chinita, wearing plain shirts and jeans; not stunning. I was expecting someone else to come out of the cubicles. I know, I know. I'm bad. But you know, their voices, the way they talk, and their experiences (Broadway, France) don't exactly match their looks.

What am i trying to say here? I really don't know (thinking aloud). Let's just say that schools will always be the same. I came from four schools -- Holy Spirit for elem; St. Scholastica's for high school;

UP

UP Diliman for college, Ateneo de Manila for grad school -- but the perennial prototypes will always be present, in a school setting. In UP, I know a lot of girls who look plain and shy but speaks really really well. And when they talk, you wouldn't believe that the words -- usually bad things about other people -- actually came from them. They are the ones who laughs at fat and dark guys; who talks about how this guy stinks after P.E.; who never talks to guys who commutes to school. And they complain about not having a boyfriend and making themselves believe that the guys aren't good enough for them. How will they have boyfriends, i mean, why don't they look at themselves on the mirror. They are aiming for the good-looking rich guys who drive nice cars when they don't even look good at all. You get what I mean? Some girls think too highly of themselves and have set standards way too high than their actual value. These girls will never have boyfriends. Until they die.  

I thought that as we grow old, people will change. There will not be any losers, hearthrobs, nerds, but yet, they still are there. People will always choose an image they want to project and somehow those in class will be thrusted into this kind of setting and soon enough everybody will try act the prototype that has not been taken by another person yet.