I Rule My World!

Three women die together in an accident and go to heaven. When they get there, St. Peter says, ‘We only have one rule here in heaven: don’t step on the ducks!’ So they enter heaven, and sure enough, there are ducks all over the place. It is almost impossible not to step on a duck, and although they try their best to avoid them, the first woman accidentally steps on one. Along comes St. Peter with the ugliest man she ever saw. St. Peter chains them together and says, ‘Your punishment for stepping on a duck is to spend eternity chained to this ugly man!’ The next day, the second woman accidentally steps on a duck and along comes St. Peter, who doesn’t miss a thing. With him is another extremely ugly man. He chains them together with the same admonishment as for the first woman. The third woman h as observed all this and, not wanting to be chained for all eternity to an ugly man, is very, VERY careful where she steps. She manages to go months without stepping on any ducks, but one day St. Peter comes up to her with the most handsome man she has ever laid eyes on … very tall, long eyelashes, muscular, and thin. St. Peter chains them together without saying a word. The happy woman says, ‘I wonder what I did to deserve being chained to you for all of eternity?’ The guy says, ‘I don’t know about you, but I stepped on a duck!’

The dilemma is that there are so many american puns and other phrases I don’t get! Many times, they say things intended to be a punchline or an insulting comeback, but I end up saying.."huwat was datt????". And I end up being the joke instead of laughing at THE joke.

Like ‘thinking outside the box’. I mean, yeah I know it’s one of the oldest phrases around the corner, but it got my mind playing. Why should I think outside the box anyway? How can I think of the outside when I’m inside the box? And how can they say it’s a box–have they seen it? What if the four equal sides is just an optical illusion of a square, hence making the mind feel he’s in a box when he’s not? And what’s the box for anyway? Why not use a ball? Think outside the ball. Or, think outside the pyramid. After all, the pyramid equals knowledge, right? Better yet, think outside the crystal. More sides, more complex. More thought. See..how did the box gain superiority over these equally good shapes?! Also, what do you think of when you’re outside the box? Personally, it’s better to think inside the box when there’s less distraction. More peace. Good focus. Better thoughts. Another thing that bothered me was that am I supposed to think outside the box while I’m inside it, or think outside the box when I’m outside it? I say live to the hilt of every situation. When you’re inside something—be in it, think of being inside it. Same goes when you’re outside. Or better yet, think, wherever you are.

Hahaha…I can see my classmates frowning at me now. Let me see if I can make them growl…

Why wake up at the wrong side of the bed? Is it a choice you make every morning or is it an inevitable part of the morning ritual–a jamba juice of sides sort of thing? Which is the wrong side anyway? The left or the right? If it’s the left, then I might as well fill that side with pillows and other stuff to give me a hundred percent chance of waking up at the right side! Or, if the wrong side is such a bad thing, why not make a round bed? That way, no sides are taken. Although it may take quite some bedroom space, at least, you know you’ll never be on the wrong side. Then, there’s always the coffin. Who said you can use this this only when you "eternally sleep"? It’s designed to snugly fit your body frame. That way when you wake up at the same side–which I hope is the right side. Rest assured that you’ll always be at that side of the coffin bed each and every time. Plus, you don’t have to worry about mosquito bites, or extra sheets. You can always close the lid to your convenience. Just make sure you have air to breathe–unless of course, you still plan to wake up–be it at the wrong side or not. And who on earth can tell you if you woke on the wrong side or not? How can they tell? Did they buy your bed? Did they watch you sleep? How can you tell if you’re on the wrong side? And what happens if you wake up on that side?

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr….

Ok, I’m stopping it for now

Yey, it’s almost the weekend. I don’t know how I survive but I did! The first few days of the week was hell…preparing for that listening test and class report on mystic chords, and doing another one of those review sessions, which for some reason did not work out very well compared to the first one. Why? Because I had to do it in the evening, and the students were not really in their good spirits to review Caccini and Monteverdi, and other baroque stuff.

The report did not go very well either… Oh, well, there’s always next time.

I’m catching up–and I’m almost there! One more week and I might just be finding me self a regular oldbie.

Also bought a book yesterday, and finished reading it this morning. Talk about "busy"! Well my kind of life definitely defines that word on another dimension.

So, yeah, i’m excited for the weekend because I have more time to catch up on class readings, watch another free concert (one of the marvelous perks of being a music major!), and go to Lake Michigan with some of my classmates. Hopefully, "he" comes. ;-))))

You know you’re hopeless when you see the guy you like and you can’t even talk to him.

You know you’re hopeless when that guy you like talks to you and all you can say is "Really? Yeah!" "Okay".

You know you’re hopeless when you keep saying those words over and over again in the actual conversation, and he begins to look at you really funny.

You know you’re hopeless when he catches you on a Saturday afternoon wearing dowdy clothes, and taking pictures of the campus buildings like some tourist.

You know you’re hopeless when he asks you what you’re doing and you say the obvious.."I’m just taking pictures" then bike away.

You know you’re hopeless when he asks you to have lunch with him at the cafeteria and you forgot your ID at home.

Then again, you’re not hopeless when despite of that, he still talks to you, and you begin to say more than the ‘really-yeah-ok’ mantra.

And you’re not hopeless when he’d rather miss lunch and talk to you about stuff because you left your ID.

And you’re not hopeless when he takes the time to sit and review you for your exam, teach you the shortcuts of music theory, and basically talk about anythng under the sun.

So yeah, no matter how stupid you can get, it’s a very good thing to hope against hope.

I know I’m supposed to be posting something—like a picture of me at wherever I am right now. I mean if I do that, that could already say like a thousand words. But I choose words, and you do the "picture taking" for me. Besides, much as I want to post a picture– I haven’t had the time to take a picture of me by myself. Yada, yada, yada…

Today is just probably the prelude to the crazy world I brought myself into. Let’s see, registering for classes was easier than i thought (at least compared to how AUP do theirs). I now have my official Andrews University ID, attended my first assembly, met with my boss–Dr. Doukhan who I will be working with for at least 15 hours a week (I thought she was overestimating that but when she handed me my job description, I realized she was even underestimating!), joined the University Chorale (I’m obliged to!), attended the 20th century music class, practiced the organ (which by the way is inside the music department–and I don’t have to go all the way over to the church to practice!) And now, I’m just waiting for my groupmates at the library so we can work on our first group assignment.

It’s the second time I’ve been a new student to a new school, and at times it could get scary. This time, it’s scarier than I envisioned it to be. Then again, as I look back at what I’ve accomplished today, nothing’s really there to be scared about… except probably those mystic chords we have to do a report on, and something I should be doing just now…

We left Riverside at 5am. After all, my flight to Chicago was at 7:57am, so we have plenty of time…or so we thought.

The loooooong ride to LAX gave me time to think about a lot of things. Duduy rephrased them like this, "Ye, may time na maiiyak ka sa sobrang lungkot. Pag nangyari yon, punta ka lang sa isang park tapos umiyak ka ng umiyak hanggang gusto mo. Ilabas mo lahat para mawala." I chuckled. Then swallowed. I’m really not the sentimental bit, but at that time I really did feel like crying. It’s never a good feeling to miss people.

At LAX, we opted to check in at the kiosk, but my baggages were too heavy so I had to check-in inside. When I was finally at the counter, I was informed by the computer that I cannot check-in on my flight. I was suggested to take the next flight tho, and it was still a good thing because it won’t affect my flight from Chicago to Southbend.

O’Hare International airport proved to be another challenge. The moment I alighted from the plane, I knew I’m going to be lost big time. And I just couldn’t afford to get lost!

My friends and cousins tease me to be of "poor rearing" ("poor hearing" that is–but then you can’t hear that right the first time you hear it, hence the "poor rearing" tag). Anyway, I was trying to figure out which way to go when I heard two men talking behind me. "Where are you going now?" one man asks. The other man answered, "My next flight is to Southbend. I’m boarding in a few minutes." I heard that quite clearly and my "poor rearing" mode seems to be not working…

Ding! I could follow that man around! Thing is, there were two of them and I had no idea who said what. I remember hearing the Southbend guy came from my right–so that would be the man in orange. Aha! This is easy. I let the man in the suit and tie go the other way and tagged behind the orange guy.

Ten minutes later, I lost him. He did not even leave me with bread crumbs to follow!! Uh-oh. Time to put my English spokening dollar to good use. Three security guards, one information counter, and one flight departure listing later, I was on Gate E3, where the flight to Southbend would be boarding. Who said I needed the orange guy??

The flight was right on schedule, and I was right on time. Just a minute late would already be too late, and my dog-eared common sense was giving me a pat on the back for getting there. Just then, I saw the man in the suit and tie boarding the same plane. The one I let go. My gulay!!! I had been following the wrong man after all! Ironically, the same thing could happen in love life. (Haha–may I put some moral lesson daw ba?? Let me indulge, then). Don’t let the "tie and suit guy" go away and follow someone else. Still, the best thing is following your instincts. Find the place you want to go to, know how to get there on time and you might just find the right "suit and tie guy" for you. (Hip hip hoorah for the alleged cynical spinster!!)

The flight to Southbend took shorter than I had anticipated. Para ka lang nag joyride from AUP to Tagaytay and back. Getting my baggages even took me longer than the flight.

So I went outside to look around if the Andrews University put up a really big banner saying "Welcome!!!", with red balloons and confetti for effects. I could feign surprise, no problem. Hahahaha!!! Yeah right. What a wishful thinking.

Didn’t take me long to find the bus. The driver who was a Pinoy (yehey!) saw me first and asked me if I was Irene then helped me with my bags. So much for the welcome banner… I have the whole bus to myself! And they usually pick up students using a van, or so, he said.

Thirty minutes later, I saw the sign that says, Berrien Springs. A surge of emotions took over me. Cornell (the driver) shouted, "Welcome to Berrien Springs!!". Who needs balloons?

I smiled and looked out the window. I see the vast green fields basking in the orange sunlight.  Not so far away, I see the ‘Welcome to Andrews University’ road sign.

This isn’t a dream. I am finally here, at last.

So there I was in LAX, all excited to see my Amba friends. Two good things happened before I could finally check out. The immigration officer was not what I imagined him to be–you know the angry-looking sort, who could scare the wits out of you? Well he was not. He wasn’t very friendly either, but he didn’t give me a hard time so I’m cutting him some slack. Hehe..

Then I didn’t have to wait long for my baggages to come out. There were even these people who pulled it for me.

But then I had to wait for an hour for my sundo who I was only excited to see, had it not been for my still frizzy hair, which was still out of sorts. Then again, these people had seen me at my "worst" hair moments, so I had little to care.

Finally. I saw Kuya Bojo, Kuya Homer, and Kuya Tadd. Frizzy hair forgotten.

Had to stop by the Caagbay’s because it was Aunty Miriam’s birthday. It was good to see Uncle Celso and Aunty Miriam again! Tho it was my first time at their house. Partly, I’m excited to write this blog because Uncle Celso kept telling me he was my avid reader. Talaga lang ha.

Then off we go to Riverside, at Kuya Homer’s apartment, to chill out, yak about stuff, and to warm our hearts with friendship (naks! nagiging poetic at sentimental na yata ito…! then again, aside from the LA heat, i just had the best time there watching US open, youtube, taking a bath with Tims–hahaha!!– and making lait).

When Duduy arrived the next day, mas lalong naging masaya. I have not seen Duduy for the longest time, and to see him again there, talk about our favorite topic, and make all those silly jokes.. hayyy, I just realized then how much I missed him. (Sya sige, tama na, at baka magka issue na naman sa aming dalawa.. ;-))

But then this was a pit stop. It couldn’t last very long, and my heart was the heavist because aside from leaving them behind, I was going to a place I am unsure of…

I could finally post a blog! Woohoo!

Anyway, to those who might have been wondering where I am and what’s going on with my life at the moment– well here’s the gist of what’s up, and what has been, and whatever.

Flights: I have three connecting flights before reaching Andrews, so I was anticipating that I would get lost, or lose several things while travelling. Amazingly, I was always on time (or ahead of time) for most of my flights–well except one (and that you would have to read later). The plane trip from the Philippines was ok. My seatmate was this 7-year-old boy who was very busy playing with his X-men toys and flying cars. Most of the time, I read the card the Amba gave me. I wanted to get dramatic and cry–you know those stuff about being sentimental and whatnot. But I didn’t (in denial ba?). I guess I was more nervous because I was trying to picture out what I would do next when I get to Kuala Lumpur. Luckily, I met several Filipinos who would be staying at the hotel where I was supposed to go to, so nagsama-sama na kame.

I stayed at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, an hour’s ride from the airport (walang traffic pa yun, so it’s really far). Maganda ang hotel (a little bit old pero ok pa rin), and the food was buffet style. As much as I wanted to pig out, hindi na rin kaya ng powers ko dahil nga pagod na.

In my room, I had a nice view of the white and blue mosque and the busy roads of Shah Alam. Spent most of the time looking out the window, sleeping, and taming my hair which was really out of sorts. Ang mga magic potion ko kase ay nka-ckeck in so I have to make do with my frizzy hairdo (pardon the rhyme, I can’t help it).

As usual, I had one stupid moment where I had to call room service because I thought the lights in my room weren’t working. Yun pla, I just have to put my card key on this machine thing beside the light switches. Natawa nlang sa akin yung guy-with-whatever- you-call-his-job…

Then ayun from Kuala Lumpur, I had to fly to Taipei. I had all three seats to myself, sana. But there was this lady who requested na dun daw sya muna. Hmp.

Finally, I got to LA where I had the best PIT STOP, because I was able to spend time with several of my bestest friends in Amba.