Hello my dear blog readers! I am suffering from intense tooth pain as I write this. I am actually doubting the safety of taking two paracetamols in one day. I mean John Lloyd Cruz didn't exactly tell us how many paracetamols we can take in one day before foams start seeping from our mouth.
I spent the better part of the day with the boifran Myk, buying stuff and scouring the small town proper of my little province. Tragedy struck yesterday and burned most of the town's one and only mall. I guess most of us are just about realizing how incapacitating it is not to have a mall. The stand-alone movie houses shut down when the mall opened their cinemas. And we usually amuse ourselves with arcade games and stuffing food in the mall during boring weekends. But now that the mall is in ruins, we are strangely bereft of a place to hang out.
To kill time, we visited my old schools which unsurprisingly brought a rush of nostalgia.
This is my old kindergarten school. It's just adjacent to the church. Whenever I pass by this area, I always remember Susie and Geno. They used to be the mascots of the local chocolate milk brand Sustagen. I remember an activity where Susie and Geno visited our small school and gave free drinks. It was nice. I get a warm and fuzzy feeling inside whenever I remember those days.
And yes, I brought a copy of Mockingjay, the third book to the Hunger Games trilogy. I'm a bit reluctant to read it mainly because I don't want to say goodbye to the characters. But predictably, I still couldn't get my hands and my brain off of it. The story was so singularly engrossing that you'd find yourself in a catatonic state after reading the last part of each book. It's like you need a moment (a moment actually means a few days) to assimilate everything that went on in the book before you actually feel ready to tackle the next part.
If you haven't read the Hunger Games yet, you are missing out on something big.
The photos above were taken from my old elementary school. Here's the thing, I studied in catholic schools from Kindergarten to High School. That's pretty much half my life so the teachings and values of catholic life and living have been virtually ingrained in me. That's not to say that I am the epitome of an exemplary christian. Hardly. In fact, I have found myself engaging in one too many religious debates in the past. But we are not going anywhere if we expound more on this topic.
My elementary school was governed by ICM (Immaculati Cordis Mariae) nuns while my high school was run by CICM (Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae) priests. I sincerely hope I got the latin right and did not interchange the two. My memory fails me quite often as of late.
If you were wondering what those numbers on the ground were, they are numbers for the students. If you are practicing for a field demo, placing is crucial. You have to know where you are located. In my elementray days, they didn't use numbers. If I remember it right, we usually relied on wit and memory to figure out where we were supposed to be located. Good thing they came up with a nifty solution like numbers to make things a little easier for the participants. =p
There used to be a lot of horror stories and urban legends about dead nuns walking in the hallways of our old elementary school at night brandishing an old rusty knife. We had this creepy statue in our library. The statue has chains on her feet. Rumor has it that the school administrators chained that statue to prevent it from walking at night. Creepy huh?
And of course, there were the ever-present stories of students being possessed by restless spirits and/or demons. Considering how much of a coward I am now, I wonder how I ever made it through elementary. We had only one restroom and it was located at the farthest end of the school - isolated, dark and very very creepy. It explains why I had a mild case of urinary tract infection when I was younger.
My siblings and I also used to be unbelievably punctual. I even remember going to school while the sun is still shying away and with the earliest mass still being performed.
And oh I forgot to mention, I used to be a choir member when I was in elementary. We'd sing for the 6:00 am Sunday masses. I served the church too when I was in high school. I usually had to fill in the lector or the commentator spot.
So anyway forgive the meager photos. It was deliberate so you wouldn't start thinking this blog reeks of narcissism. And before I scare myself to death relieving school horror stories, I'd end this post now. Have a great weekend everyone!
