A New Fool

Last January 21, 2007, my family and I together with my relatives went to Uncle Aleg’s house. My uncle held a party because it was the Sinulog Fiesta Day. The place is very peaceful and frigid (like snow) because there are many trees in the surroundings. By the way, my uncle lives in a subdivision but I don’t know the name of it.

The celebration was like a reunion party because all my close relatives went there and we had a good time chatting about experiences in life. We, the “teenage generation” members of the clan were talking about funny jokes. Suddenly I heard a voice from my left side and it took me a while to recognize my Lolo Jarding. He asked me a question without any hesitation, “What will you take up on college and are you prepared for it?” I was silent for about thirty seconds, I could not think of an answer for that “riddle”. I was really shocked because I finally realized that I have not yet planned for my upcoming college life. I also realized that Lolo is not so old because he still remembers that I am a senior high school student now.

Honestly, I am such a fool because I am not prepared for my future. Until now, that question of Lolo Jarding always stays in my mind.

Right now, I already have chosen a university which I like most and the course that I would take up. But I don’t think that I am ready for college life. I would surely miss my funny and jamming peers in University of the Philippines (UP) high school and all f our pranks, boys talk and jamming sessions. Going to college means new friends, new uniforms, new teachers, new classmates, new subjects, new experiences and a new beginning. Honestly, I feel that I am not ready to leave high school because it is enjoying and exciting.

My older cousins once told me that being a college student is very tiring and boring; one must be serious all the time since teachers are stricter. That perception of college life always crosses my mind. Even though I hate college life very much, I still have no other options but to choose it and try to live with it.

I have ambitions in life, but I must follow the right path. Every night, I always imagine myself as the “new fool” in college.

Basketball

Do you know Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant or perhaps LeBron James? Did the names Mark Caguioa, Danny Seigle and James Yap ever cross your mind? They have one thing in common, they love and play basketball.

Today, basketball is the most popular sport in the Philippines. I always see basketball courts at every place (even in the streets) where men of all ages play against each other. I also observed that many boys are wearing stylish basketball jerseys at malls and school. Some men would even get irked if they missed to watch an exciting basketball game on television. In every barangay fiesta, there is always an amateur basketball league for the youth. These only prove that basketball is the second “religion” of most men in the country nowadays.

But what really makes basketball so famous? Why do some men can’t sleep at night when their favorite team loses? Or why do boys go home early after school just to watch PBA games?

Apparently, you can not answer these questions unless you became one of the millions of basketball fanatics. The feeling is unexplainable.

I am a proud fan and player of basketball at the same time. My idols are Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Michael Jordan because they are athletic, aggressive and high-leaping shooting guards. They are also the masterminds of the popularity of basketball.

I play basketball a lot especially when there are no home works and projects to be done. My mother always scolds me whenever I go home late after school because she knows that I played basketball again.

I can not stop playing basketball; I am so addicted to it even though I got several injuries already. Playing basketball is my most favorite hobby because it is a good form of exercise. (A normal person loses about 465 calories when playing basketball for an hour.) You can also meet and gain new friends in the court. The sport is also exciting and can be easily played since the rules are not complicated. Teenagers also enjoy playing basketball rather than taking vices or doing pesky crimes. Most of all, girls are impressed with you especially if you are the ace player in your neighborhood.

Basketball brings many advantages, but despite of these positive effects, there are also bad ones.

In basketball, arguments can not be avoided (especially if the game is very physical) that can lead to fists fights. One very good example of these fights is the Detroit brawl where some players went amok and punched several fans in the arena. In basketball games, there are also thrash talking and bad mouthing. Some players talk harshly to their opponents so that they can not concentrate on the game.

Basketball needs physical and mental concentration, one must also avoid getting hurt on the hard court. Despite the disadvantages of playing basketball, many people still enjoy playing it. No matter what happens, basketball is here to stay.

Life is like basketball, one must never miss any opportunity that comes and everyone must rely on teamwork. There is one thing on my mind right now, “Let’s play ball.”

The Riddle

Everyone knows that “Perfection” is best paired to the word “Impossibility”. Nobody is perfect (Well, except God of course), we already made our shares of mistakes in life and have been wrong about a lot of things. All ups and downs in our damn life are the handiworks of God. God balances our life by giving us enough blessings to keep us happy, enough burdens to keep us humble and enough hardships to make us strong. God Almighty has a purpose why He made us different from each other. What I am trying to tell is that we are not heavenly perfect; we are just humans with lots of “defects.

There are things that we hate most about the traits of our friends, classmates and siblings because simply we are far from perfection. In this “judgmental opinion” of mine, I will share you my perceptions about the most common defects of both sexes.

The problem with women is that they are too emotional. They easily cry even though the problem is not worth their tears. They easily cry when they lost their not-so-expensive ball pens (perhaps G-Tech) or got scolded by their teachers even though it is a joke only. They are easily affected by outside operations or influences. I am not saying that crying is a weakness, I am portraying here that “crying does not help you solve the problem, it only adds up to your miseries.” (Crying can make your eyes bulging and red which can trigger your peers to tease you rather than to comfort you.) I know that crying is everybody’s best option to do especially in times of depression, but the most effective remedy for your problem is to face it and accept whole-heartedly that you are not perfect at all.

I know that many will disagree with my opinion (especially girls), but that is the truth. They say crying is just normal, but too much of it is otherwise. (Some people would even cry just to evade their problems which are nonsense.) Frankly, crying is not one of my best solutions to my dreadful problems.

In relation to the word crying, some women cry (and even freak out in front of many people) because of either sudden break-ups or they saw their quixotic boyfriends with other women (who they think are better than them). I know that some women are gullible and foolish when it comes to love, but boys must not take advantage of it. The problem with men is that they are unloyal and liars. I think it is the nature of men to be liars when it comes to love (Of course not all men). My loquacious friend said that LIAR means Love in a Relationship, but I doubt him of course. They say women are the kryptonites of men, but that was a long time ago. I am a born liar too; I broke the hearts of some girls. Because of this “natural ability” of men, there came an antidote named “Karma”. One thing I had learned, never ever lie again to a relationship.

You see, our lives are like riddles that only God can answer.

Message Sending Failed

Nowadays, text messaging is the most popular and newest craze of teenagers. Some people would even say that they would surely die if they can not text for just a day. Short messaging service (SMS) addiction is like a contagious virus that has no remedies. Once you ate hooked to it, you can not erase it in your mind. Text messaging is far better than Yahoo Messenger or any chat websites because it is wireless, cheaper, user- friendly and less connection problems. Plus, companies right now are offering unlimited text messaging to all of their subscribers. It is no wonder why teenagers are texting everywhere they go. Apparently, teenagers like texting because they can make friendship with anyone, pass announcements to everybody and even have relationships with a total stranger through text only. Curiosity leads either to good or bad endings.

I am a self- confessed addict of text messaging. Text messaging was once my pastime hobby but it turned out to be an irresistible addiction. Every weekend, I go to Nang Celsa’s store and buy thirty pesos worth of cell phone load. Then I subscribe to the unlimited text service of Globe and wait for five minutes to get the activation message. After that, I would limitlessly text to all of my friends and to my textmates for two days. Honestly, I even had not-so-serious relationships with female textmates.

Sooner, I realized that I was really addicted to SMS and the results were dreadful. I had no money to save and spend for school things, I became irresponsible, my grades went down and I even broke the hearts of my “girlfriends”. Karma is the word.

Then one time, I read about how to stop text addiction in a magazine. I followed the article’s advices and started undergoing “text message fasting” for a month. I had a hard time during my one-month “SMS fasting” because my textmates are always texting me but eventually, I surpassed all the hardships. Fortunately, I was successful in my plan and I resisted all the temptations. I learned a lot about the good and bad effects of text messaging. Honestly, I still text until now but with moderation. I now also lessened the number of textmates in my contact’s list. One lesson I got from my experience, minimize text messaging before the “virus” controls you. Experience is the best teacher.


By the way, I already apologized to all of my female textmates whom I left broken-hearted, and I still have the copy of the magazine.