Talentado ka!

A normal person who’s had a terrifyingly long and arduous day would—normally—throw himself on his bed and completely black out of reality as soon as he gets home. But I guess I don’t belong to that category. Here I am, writing this entry, when I should be tucked in bed already. Mind you, I have to wake up at four o’clock tomorrow morning for a major class activity, and I need all the sleep I can get. But there’s too much to tell, that if I don’t write everything down, my experiences may as well get thrown in the wastebasket of forgotten memories.

I spent the whole day in class. While listening to lectures, my mind drifted to what remained to be the more exciting part of the day: the Yakal Open House. My roommates and the rest of the people in my dorm wing—except me—spent the whole night decorating the corridor. It was a shame I didn’t get to help them. I was stuck with Campbell, the oh-so-wonderful Biology book that’s sometimes more effective at lulling me to sleep than the average sleeping pill.

When sleep got its grips on me around 2 am (everyone was still awake, believe me), I decided to postpone the reading of the three chapters of genetics. “Bukas na lang, maaga na lang akong gigising,” I thought. I did wake up early, but my sleep wasn’t enough, because the moment I opened my eyes, there were still remnants of sleepiness hovering about me. I cleaned my room, removed the dust off my monitor, and prayed.

I asked the Lord for strength. I was at my wit’s end; I realized that my strength wouldn’t be enough. I needed Him.

So off I went: to Bio lecture and lab in the morning, to Yakal with Dianne Deauna (we reviewed for the exam; she had these brilliant ideas about long and short day plants that blew me away), to the actual dreaded Bio lecture exam at 5:30 in the afternoon. I’d rather not talk about it, but suffice it to say that God has been so gracious as to even allow me to answer some of the problems. Ma’am Roderos is a genius at making exams that make our noses bleed—and I say that lovingly.

Immediately after the exam, around 7:30 pm, we rushed to Albert Hall for the Talents Night which I’d be hosting. I had no idea what to say, and I was thankful for Ate Tetet who, surprisingly, showed up onstage as my co-host, and who seemed to enjoy the entire stint. Together with the rest of the applicants, I sang Finale B, a song in the musical, Rent. There were wonderful performances, too (all were exceptionally good): Coy, Monchi and Ielle; Carlo, the man with the voice that could melt Antarctica, and Checka—di lang pang-isports, pang-perpormans lebel pa; Kuya Fabs, who did an a cappella, among others; the MBB research assistants, some members, and many more.



Thank you, Lord, for sustaining me.