Adult High School

I suddenly had a flash of memories about how I was in high school.

 I have always been a nerd. I had an unexplainable obsession for learning. I felt comfortable with formulas, numbers, essays and experiments. I looked forward to every release date of the school paper I was once part of. I liked exam days - because I can watch TV during the later half of the day and exams were, well, easy. Then there were all those fun essay-writing contests that I could always be in just because few people wanted to participate in them. Along with the downtime we get from all those extracurriculars, it was ridiculously easy to pass the courses. The only problem I had with grades was how to get higher marks than my friend (LOL), and everyone else for that matter. (And believe me... arrogance aside, it wasn't that hard.) I was used to rubbing elbows with the teachers- be it biology, chemistry, math, or English, even with the prefect of discipline that everyone feared. I don't know how, but it comes naturally. And you know what my most dreaded event was? The annual Intramurals. It's a full week of sports and cheerdancing; and a full week of me clumsily trying please my PE teacher at a sports event I can't play properly.

So you see why I loved college. It was different. I suddenly had less hate for PE only because I get to choose what to do. In academics, passing actually became extremely difficult. I had to cry, lose sleep, faint and literally get showered with acid in the process of trying to get that marginal tres. Professors were at both sides of the spectrum - the hip, young ones vs. the terror conservatives. And there I found my fellow nerds. They were just as weird but cool in our own sense. I even had a whole family in there (hello guys! *waves*). The whole four and something years squeezed the most blood, tears and sweat out of me but it's something
I'd do again in another lifetime (Asus... haha). Come to think of it, laziness set in a lot but I wouldn't have endured traveling several miles everyday if I didn't somehow like going to school diba?

Then there's life after college. It's that fork in the road covered by blinding fog and littered with sharp rocks. I hoped it was going to be like university life (considering that I came from the university that best captured The Real World). But then just now, I discovered, this is Adult High School. Beautiful people are still the head-turners, orange hair and black nails still look evil,  who dumped who and who hooked up with who still matters, gossip is still the lunchtime appetizer and us nerds, are still, the unusual nerds. I know there's a world out there that's better than this. But just like school, I guess I have to get through all this high school-ness all over again before I can graduate to that other world.

I can't help but start this wave of nostalgia. Haha.


So... do you still remember what high school's like?

Do you still remember what YOU were like back then?

Stupid.

No one's born dumb.

But stupid? Maybe.

... Like people who don't even think about how they bother other people's work just so they can do theirs flawlessly without even a shred of effort.

To my friends who can read this entry, have you ever seen me get mad? If not, read and enjoy. :)

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Because I believe in preserving your dignity and I think no one deserves to be degraded in front of others, I haven't said anything to embarass you and I haven't told them yet about the stupidity I've witnessed. Your name's not even here and these people don't even know you. Dito na lang, at least di ka nila kilala. I get the chance to bash you without anyone else getting hurt.

You were employed in a company that speaks English as a policy so would you please learn to speak in freakin' English?! Have you even noticed how we answer you in a different language everytime you ask a stupid question? Did you even notice how we were hoping you'd follow suit? I guess not then. And I know you're wondering why I've shared more small talks with your American guy than you two actually had. Use the language and maybe you won't be so left out. Stop thinking you can get away with anything because you look innocent and pretty. Other people are investing their efforts and mental energy on something that you'd just breeze through because your talented colleagues just happened to be kind enough to make things easier for you.

You think you know how it works. You think because they call me anytime to ask for help, you can do the same and abuse me? They ask me for second opinions and that's only because they believe I know better at some things. They ask about grammar -something that even I get confused with sometimes- and factual tidbits that they assume I would happen to know. But you... you ask me to think for you! Get your neurons working, girl. Read, think, understand! Before you complain about things being so hard, have you ever thought maybe that's because they're meant to be hard and meant to require this basic action called THINKING?

Tangina, mag-isip ka naman! (I don't usually curse, but forgive me just this once.)

I help them because they ask nicely. And besides, they offer me the same help when I'm the one who needs it. They're even that nice to treat me to lunch even though it's not necessary. It's called teamwork. They see the problem, think and try to work it out... and then say "Anna, can you help me with this?" And then say thank you or promise a treat in return. Do you even realize what you do? You see the problem, scratch your head, complain about how difficult it looks and say, "Anna, tulungan mo nga ko dito! Ang hirap naman kasi!"

I don't even know why I still come running to help you even though you sound like you're ordering me and not asking me. I even abandon my job to help you first because it takes a lot of dictating and explaining for you to understand what needs to be done. When everyone else has left because they're tired of you're doing your job for you, I stay and endure the whole process. I do that even when you keep a weird gaze at me when I browse news, trivia sites or stuff about stem cells and odd magazine articles. Hija, it's called READING. I'm not like the rest of 'em who answer love quizzes in their free time. They already made sure I get that I'm weird so I'm used to the stares. But you're much worse then them. You have the guts to interrupt my reading and force me to do the same nonsense so you'll be entertained. Are you serious?

Normal people don't tolerate that kind of parasitic behaviour. It so happened that I'm not as normal so you're lucky I tolerate you. You get that, right? You're not dumb... even though you don't know what dumb means (I'm not exaggerating, the poor girl really doesn't know). You just need to stop being lazy and let the brain you're born with get some well-needed workout.

It's okay to ask me. Just think first before you do. And try to do your job by yourself, at least once. See how it feels. Maybe then you'll understand the expressions we all have when we read our payslips. While you're at it, try understanding the computation of your salary too. Oh, and maybe next time I can teach you about stem cells and stuff so you'll impress them with your looks AND wit.

And yes, when my blood returns to its normal temperature, I'll still help you. Don't worry, I won't call you stupid out there. I had to do it here so no one else would have to hear it.

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Hay, salamat at may Multiply restricted access. Gusto ko pa magmura, pero tama na ang isa. I want to believe I'm still kind enough to have vented it out this way than in any other manner.

Why Do You Ask... WHY?

"Boyfriend?"
> "None."

"Had boyfriends??"
> "No."

"Since birth???" (Notice how the ?s increase.)
> "Yes."

"Owwws????"
> "You don't believe me?"

"Why?????"
> "Well, why do I need a reason?"

This is probably one of the lamest posts I'd ever put in this blog but what the heck, when you're fed up, somethin's just gotta give. Different instances of conversation around a span of a week with different people has triggered a phenomenon called being fed up.

Tell me, my favorite people in the world, do I need a reason to be single? Is WHY that big of a deal? After frequent conversations similar to the one above, guys usually stare at me for a good 5 mins or so, girls gasp in amazement and gays push through with the seemingly endless interrogating. And puhleeease, I am not easy (so don't give me that look)... or gay (especially not THAT look)... or naive.

I don't usually mind being asked, but I DO mind having to explain. My sis said that maybe it's because our kind is becoming an endangered species. Now that's a funny way to put it. :P

So thank you. For not asking me. And for not being stupidly interested in a non-existent explanation. :)