Old school memories: Earthquake

The inspiration to pen another story appears in a myriad of forms. For this one, it came as a photo of Virgil a.k.a. Jingjing in Facebook that startled a slumbering mole of neurons in this blogger’s head. The tsunami of memories that it caused was so great that it pried open the laptop and this cascade of words commenced.

Several years back, a photo of Warren’s balding head (again in FB) elicited the same reaction, but failed to produce a written account due to employment-related time constraints. With this blogger now retired and free, he might as well let the mole out of the cage. The last time he checked his blog, there were no readers who were younger than 55, which means that the shocking stories of his colored past is in no danger of grossing out some generation-x reader.

Time was when the activity to earn a degree took place in a boarding school. This school was situated in the isolated mountainous recesses of a landlocked province aptly named - Bukidnon (vernacular for mountainous). If the ancient Israelites had the 10 commandments, this school had a "Student Behavioral Code of Conduct" booklet that spelled out each rule and corresponding punishment - the meanest of which was coined "sent-home." Taboo activities included lovers-walking-hand-in-hand, kissing, consumption of alcoholic beverage, smoking, among many others. Food in the cafeteria was vegetarian and competitive sports was not encouraged. Does this scenario sound exciting? Quite the opposite for us young guns, but very much appealing to the parents who may have lost hope and patience in their hyperactive and mischievous kid. It was not difficult for people to see that this school was some kind of a last resort thing even if it really wasn't, but admittedly, the chances of a naughty kid getting a college diploma were much better here than in a school down by the city.

They say that birds of the same feather flap their wings together, and bored teenagers who needed to eat something delicious, washed down by some alcohol-tainted brew and blown up in a puff of smoke found each other by instinct and necessity. The bonding was instantaneous, apparently.  To get this done one had to secure a gate pass to be able to leave the guarded campus. If this was not possible due to a previous offense or by parental instruction, the next option was to beat a path through vast corn or sugarcane fields and hitch a ride on a cargo truck some distance away.

Of all the episodes played out in this manner, one stood out like a monument of success, since no one was caught and no punishment meted out. The day started with this blogger's attention being called by some concerned citizen that there was a stray mutt wandering around the campus. Since he owned a small calibre rifle, this blogger was authorized to cull any potential rabid threat in the vicinity, and he immediately took action - yet with a different plan in mind. As soon as the threat was neutralized, he loaded it on a red jeep and sped to downtown Valencia where the mom of one of his like-minded friends took to the task of preparing a dinner feast. Word was passed around to the gang who were in their classes that something was cooking and that they only needed to secure their gate passes for a night of drunken fun.

That afternoon only seven daring dudes managed to slip undetected from the campus. The night passed by quickly with pitchers of beer and some rum and by midnight all were stretched out on the living room floor, each in his own boozed-out state. That was when the massive intensity 8 earthquake struck, triggering a killer tsunami in Pagadian city - a coastal city of a neighboring province. This temblor rocked the living room floor like a grain thresher and thoughts of "the end of the world and the final judgment" jolted the drunk dudes into action. One guy (Beloi) found his footing amid the shaking and said: "hey guys, listen to the dogs outside go aow, aow, aow." Another guy (War) gets down on his knees and manages to blurt out a prayer... "Lord, ikaw na ang bahala - your will be done." The rest were speechless in shock while their alcohol-marinated brain cells unsuccessfully tried to take in the scenario. The shaking stopped as suddenly as it started and everyone fell back into sleep.

The next day was school as usual, but the guys had a different greeting: "aow, aow, aow..." 

Cheers to each dude in this story. Our heads may be bald and graying, but let the memories keep us young and happy.