Take it from me

Yes, I’m posting again, but I’m not in the best mood possible.

Let’s find out why Marielle’s not in the mood. . .

I was on my way home with my usual companions: my best friend Akemi, one of my ka-berks Zia, and Kuya Cyryll.

Akemi wanted to go home, and since we saw an spacious jeep, she decided to go ahead, but Zia saw someone riding in the jeep. That someone was Wyndel, with his friend and classmate, Jay. It’s a long story.

So, the three of us went to ride an empty jeep, which was later on filled with more passengers. It was okay, until Zia went down. The driver kept looking back, since we were seated near the driver.

Heck, the stupid idiot driver seemed to mock me!! When Kuya Cy got down, and I had no other company who i could talk to (except the other passengers), I started to get scared. The driver didn’t even return my change!! I gave him P10 for my fare, and he didn’t return the P4 change!!! He should be thankful I didn’t catch so much of what he was saying, or I would’ve turned nasty!! I caught words like "kompyansa", and kanang nakatan-aw sa gawas". . .I don’t even know what kompyansa means!!!

What the heck was he playing at??? I’m not rich, you know!!! I’m a normal citizen with rights!! The heck with young drivers!!! That’s why I always prefer to ride jeeps with aged drivers!!!

Hay nako!! Buhay nga naman o!! I just experienced one of life’s usual throws on people. Whatever, At least I’ve learned something: Avoid riding jeeps with young drivers, especially if they seem like freaks of nature, and seemed like they haven’t studied in school!!!

It was a year ago. Around the first few months of 2006 when Lolo Ben died. He is the youngest of the Baladads. He was my Papa Ciano’s brother. Lolo Ben was the Barangay Captain of Barangay Libertad before.

Around the time of vigil, people came to Lolo Ben’s house to pay their last respect to the desceased barangay captain. I remember, it was like today: a dark, damp, rainy night when we found out that Lolo Ben had passed away. Such a sad story, that is haunting me right now.

Lolo Ben was a kind man. He went to our house to play our piano. I would remember listening to the music he played from my room, but then, I was young at that time, so I barely even remembered. I watched the sky, as the same people I’ve seen in the Lolo Ben’s vigil came ’round to remember Lolo Ben’s first death anniversary.

I could remember, during the last day of vigil, the day before the burial, my cousins Ate King and Kuya Nel came ’round at our house to wake me up and go to the vigil. It was late, but I agreed anyway. We told each other to stay awake until the sun rises.

The day of the burial came. At first, I found myself in the Sto.Niño Shrine, dressed in white, looking around at my relatives. I saw Tito Tata, one of Lolo Ben’s sons who lived in Manila, fighting back from tears. So did Uncle Bimbo, Uncle Benjie, and the other children of Lolo Ben. It was such a sad sight. When the priest started to bless Lolo Ben’s casket, tears just started to run out of almost everyone’s eyes. Lolo Ben’s children, grandchildren and his wife, Lola Gloria, were in total grief. Lolo Ben’s remaining brothers and sisters shared the same grief, along with the other family relatives and friends. The whole church seemed to be such a sad place that day. I found myself sprinkling Lolo Ben’s casket with Holy Water, as tears also ran from my eyes.

The rain added to the gloomy sight when we entered the cementery. The place was muddy, and there were big puddles of water that  we had to get across. Then, Lolo Ben was put to rest. Lola Gloria was really in disbelief that her husband was dead. As I watched the burial took place, Lolo Ben’s children and grandchildren didn’t take the tears back. They clung together for comfort, and tried to be brave and accept the hard fact that Lolo Ben was gone.

It’s such a hard thing to lose a family member. I’ve never really experienced the real pain Lolo Ben’s bereaved family had to endure. Lolo Ben, wherever you are, I hope that you are happy in the hands of God.

Mir-i-Nisa.

That’s what Miss Sato, our Developmental Reading teacher read to us last week, and we had to role play a part of it for today.

Result: AMBOT!!!!

Originally, I wanted to be the narrator for the story, since I have a bad case of stage fright, and I gave Mir-i-Nisa’s role to my best friend, Akemi. But then, she backed out of it, so I volunteered myself for the role. What the heck was I thinking???

So, after a copule of switches of roles, I played Mir-i-Nisa; Idriss played Tasmi, Mir-i-Nisa’s suitor; Nicky as Achmed, Mir-i-Nisa’s other suitor (the bad one); Francise played the datu, Mir-i-nisa’s father; and Akemi, Lawrence and Zia were the narrators and voice overs.

We practiced a bit in the AVR this morning. Though we had some issues about the costume, we were able to get over it by borrowing malongs from other sections.

I was a little nervous about the role. But then, when Tasmi and Mir-i-Nisa’s scenes came, my classmates were shouting in kilig!! Hahaha… Even the narrators and other actors felt kilig raw.

After that, my classmates congratulated me, and told me that they were kilig in the my scenes with Idriss. My friends told me that Idriss and I had chemistry. Okay. Fine. Admittedly, I did like Idriss before, but that was only before. I call him ‘daddy’ because that’s what we call him!!

Then, during Science time, Ma’am Bulado sent us a letter saying that Miss Sato was frustrated ’bout us, and that the teachers who watched us gave negative comments. Whatever. We weren’t really that prepared. Teachers shouldn’t expect way too much from us Archis. We’re human too. But then, this is the price for becoming an Archi.

So, my role-playing as Mir-i-Nisa comes to an end, and it’ll be written down in my own history books. I’ll never forget that role. And for the record, our group presented a good interpretation of the story.