This is mostly a person-based approach to recalling the Blue Roast. My bad if I glossed over certain parts, like meeting up with, say, Clarence Lim, or running into Abby and Bro together quite a lot, or other stuff like that. Contrary to the usual case (Especially anything related to Abby...), these things simply took a backseat to the stuff that happened, and it's my opportunity to give props where props are due with the people I ran into. pictures will find their way into the post when I get my IR bit going... heh. For now, I'd stick to two people there...

.:JUSTIFIED:.

In spite of not having won the special awards I was gunning for, it can't be denied that I was still a very happy person. Two pecks on the cheek, five hugs, five blue roses given, five dedications, and ten graduation pictures would certainly do that to you.

Let's just say that given how this is the last night for us graduates to get together, there's no question how special the Blue Roast night simply was. While yes, I have to admit that the lull in between key segments throughout the whole deal proved to be quite a crowd-killer, when business picked up, boy, did it pick up. Food was pretty okay, and I was so relieved as I almost lost my food stub, only to find it safely in my bag. Whew. I would've starved had I lost that...

In any case, I was pretty happy with how tonight turned out. I realized that things were simply going fine, despite my ankle injury getting even worse, and my not capturing any awards (Though the five blue roses do remind people why I was nominated "Crush ANG Bayan" in the first place...). Cami, for instance, was very funny to be around with, for the most part, but we'll get to that later.

I was more or less around familiar ground, as people like Peppy, Don, Glenn, Jason, and so forth, were people I was conversing with for the most part. We had a lot of nice things to talk about, and fellow LJ'ers Glenn and Jason were both telling me that this is really a huge thing to post about. True, true. I'm about to hit twelve or so pages single-spaced with these two pieces on the Blue Roast alone, effectively ensuring that I won't be training for Radio 1 tomorrow, as it's already 2:57 in the morning and I'm still happily typing away here. Adi was very genial to me there. It was actually disorienting after two years of otherwise.

Other people I ran into were mostly occupied otherwise. For instance, Abby and Bro were together for the most part, and a good chunk of the Blue Roast staff were visibly harassed.

I guess with the certain people I managed to encounter that involved the numbers game I just listed, you might say that the whole of it has certainly made me feel exceedingly justified... lots of people were telling me that I should've won this or that award because they voted for me, some blamed the fact that it was Comm-dominated (W-ell, I'm Comm too, but I guess I know what they mean...), others simply bashed the winner ("To Hades with *****," would be an almost exact quote.), which made me feel the huge contrast between my High School and College: while I'm not more loved in College than I was in High School, I sure am Hades happen to be much less hated...

Performances such as fashion shows, games, bands, and dances were pretty okay. Still, CADS stood out for me, as that was the only performance barring Sugarfree that I really paid a lot of attention to. Those CADS people are really good.

I had nice run-ins with Imo (Second straight day I got into some measure of trouble with the people at the Computer Labs...) and Emily. I loved Emily's creative shot, by the way... and yeah, to put Emily over as I'll be doing that for Imo in a subsequent post, she's this really nice person whom I tried to help out in Philo last semester and then Theo this sem' I suppose it was really great, because she's one of those people who really made me feel that I was somehow making a difference. At the same time, Emily's really cute in a non-Chinese way...

.:On Kendra:.

Kendra was really nice, and exceedingly low-key about the fact that she's the 3.96 QPI girl who also happens to be our batch Valedictorian. She's so low-key that people who don't know her are talking about her in her presence! She just listens to them talk about this "superhuman Kendra", and whereas more egomaniacal people such as Marcelle would stay in and listen on what they have to say, Kendra would choose to leave and find less awe-struck company, like her boyfriend, Yaiba. She has a really nice dedication for me on the grad pic she gave me, and it's testament to how she keeps her feet on the ground.

To Marcelle, our resident "Crush Ang Bayan":

With your brand of perseverance, good things are sure to come your way! Congrats to the Cum Laude!

God bless,
Kendra

Sometimes, you just have to be glad she's not Chinese? or at least, she doesn't look it...

.:On Rowena:.

I ran into Rowena from my Philo 104 class, and I really felt justified when I read her dedication. Here's a person whom I never knew until my last semester of college, and yet I still managed to make it count. As a side note, people who see her picture may very well agree that she bears some resemblance to Ma'am Sining...

In any case, her dedication really kept me from feeling all sad and frustrated over not getting the special awards. I guess if it wasn't for this one, I may have just ended up moping and whining again, and bah Gawd, I've had enough of the angst. Time for some positivity, neh?

Dear Marcelle,

It was nice knowing you even if it was only for our last semester. I think you are generous and have a true passion for teaching or just helping people :). Whether or not you win for "Gifted Child" or "Crush Ang Bayan", I think all those who voted for you believe you truly deserve to win, including me :)

Happy Graduation!!!
Rowena

This one really made me realize that I made the most out of my last semester, indeed. I guess I could've just let myself go about what I do, and just wrote those thesis statements on Word for myself, but then, what at first was just Intellectual Whoring in search of appreciation has slowly transformed into helping for the sake of helping. If anyone were to use my thesis statement answers in the future without ever acknowledging me personally, it would no longer matter to me, so long as I know I managed to help, and so long as I wasn't plagiarized verbatim...

.:ON THE BLUE ROSE(S):.

I didn't get a single Blue Rose, but that's no big deal to me. I never really expected anyone to like me that way. More like I hoped certain people would've, and I may as well throw out their names here... Cami and Diane, but expect? No, of course not. Especially not after having talked to Cami the last time... heh. But this is not about how many blue roses I took home. It's about how many of them I handed out.

Ah, yes. We were provided with only one Blue Rose, but we were allowed to purchase more at twenty pesos each if we were inclined to do so. Ergo, I sure as Hades lived up to my more... widely accepted nomination, as I handed out blue roses to certain people I knew. Let's go and run through them one by one...

.:On Diane:.

Diane Sayo, who by now ought to be Chinese Prospect number 1 (Sorry, Daph :) !), was the first person I gave a blue rose to that night. I was fully intent on giving it to only one person at the time, so I guess the mere fact that I gave it to Diane ought to speak volumes about how great a person Diane is. Cute and affable, Diane is someone I enjoy talking to, and she's been such a nice friend, always around when it mattered, willing to hear me out from time to time. I've known her since fourth year high school through an interaction with Saint Paul, and again, this was by pure chance. Her friend, Gladys, was for a while my best friend before certain inevitable things happened that ruined that... we're still fine at present, though.

Nonetheless, Diane is quite the special friend, and this time around, I made sure to peck her on the cheek lest she ended up kissing my shoulder again like the last time... still, her dedication was pretty nice... she actually had two...

Marcelle,

For one of my biggest fans... congrats and good luck!

Diane

Of course, this one seemed less like a dedication and more like an autograph an actress would give to one of her fans. Still, I think that was precisely the idea for the whole thing. Wish I remembered what I wrote on my dedication to her, though. In any case, here's the second dedication, as she gave me two grad pics (Me very pleased... ::nosebleed::)?

Marcelle,

Thank you so much for making my college life a little more fun and exciting. :)

Good luck with life. I'm sure that with someone as intelligent and friendly as you, there is (virtually) nothing that you cannot achieve. Don't ever give up! God bless you!

Love,
Diane

If that doesn't make me feel really glad, I don?t know what will. Diane's been really great for the longest time, but truth be told, she didn't think much of the blue rose as she thought I'd just buy eleven more to complete my CP list (Obviously not feasible, as some of them aren't good sports like her, some of them weren't there at all, one of them already graduated, and another one of them is a freshman.). Seriously though, if I only had to give one, that was meant for her already. Let's just say that she counts that much... I have to be very picky with my words here.

She actually thought I was expecting her to return the favor to me (Handing me her blue rose in reciprocation, that is.) when I texted her. I asked her to let me know when she was leaving, but I guess she misread it to "Give me this certain something, or admit to me this certain something before you leave." Pretty long way from the original message, so I'm glad I cleared that one up right away. I like her a lot, but I don't like her enough to pull a stunt like that, especially not when I actually have someone I love (i.e., Ms. Grace Apron.)...

.:On Charlene:.

Charlene Chua was the next person I happened to give the Blue Rose to. I figured she'd be a good sport about it, and it was the perfect swerve, as I was telling her about how I was heavily deliberating on giving my solitary (At the time, I did think it was solitary...) blue rose to Cami. I felt a bit shy about it, so I asked Cami to hand her the rose, but you might say that Cami let the cat out of the bag too soon and told her that it came from me. Still, I did anticipate it right. She was a nice sport about it, and she does have a nice graduation picture all the same...

I'm pretty sure she has quite a future ahead of her. She's also the Program awardee for her course. That's great for her. I believe she really deserves that kind of recognition. Considering how I may not run into her on Friday, I was very appreciative of the nice remembrance...

.:On Cami:.

Yet another swerve, as Cami is the one person I handed more than one rose to. Of course, the other one was something she passed on to Charlene, but still...

Cami's someone who really fits the description "One of the boys". It's more likely she'd give you a high five for your smooth maneuverings on a certain girl than for her to chide you over it. Still, I was originally dropping plans of handing her a blue rose because someone seemed to be seriously courting her, but what the Hades... it's not like giving a blue rose would make you married, anyway... and though she's obviously not Chinese, I willingly made a special exception in her case...

So I just handed it to her, and then she just took it like a great sport and hugged me. It can't get any better than that, truth be told. Cami's someone I'm very comfortable with, because she doesn't mind that I like her, and she doesn't do anything that encourages me to act on my liking her, or drop it altogether. It's just this nice material she has to joke me around with ("Ay! Si Marcelle, may kras sa akin!" / "Hey! Marcelle has a crush on me!"). As it may be, Cami is simply one in a million, and no matter how "scarred" she may be, I hope that she finds someone to love soon enough. If it's something she wants at some point, I have to say with all honesty, she deserves it.

.:On Sacha:.

This one is actually a funny rose delivery...

So there I was, aghast that I didn't get "Crush ANG Bayan", and since Peppy didn't get "Master Stalker" either (W-ell, Charles practically had it in the bag...), we then headed off to Faura since Sacha didn't stay long for the Blue Roast after having gotten food. I was joking Peppy about handing the blue rose to him on the way to Faura, and his reaction to it was funny. I owe him one, though... his camera now contains a picture of me and Cami, then me and Diane (As you can obviously see, though I don't look too glamorous.)...

She was actually in the Physics faculty room with Eric and a Physics teacher, I believe. Eric was doing a Gran Turismo, clearly illustrating collision physics. I think they're trying to use his graphical recreation of an accident scene as a way of providing evidence to contradict a certain sworn statement by who was obviously the guilty party according to the graphical recreation.

Funny thing is when I handed the blue rose to Sach...

Sacha: But this shouldn't count! I already know you're one of my stalkers!

Marcelle: Excuse me, but I'm not your stalker! (Ha! What pictures and videos are in your phone again, Marcelle?)

Still, Sach had her hair cut again. And she wasn't wearing glasses either. Ergo, I think that she might move somewhat in the CP list soon... and no, she's not going up... but I'm sure Jobert finds her hot again...

Still, I couldn't get much more than a handshake from her, as she never stood up. Too bad, considering we prolly wouldn't meet on graduation, as BS and AB are separate, and she teaches BS students.

.:On Dione:.

The final blue rose for the night was something that was pretty unexpected. It was something that I just went for out of impulse, although I really didn't think it was going to achieve anything, really. Dione was kind enough to spare me a copy of her graduation picture, and she took my creative pic as well. Second time I heard someone call my creative pic as "So Marcelle". I guess the wrestling connection is so well-established by now?

Still, after mulling over it for some time, I decided to give her a blue rose despite the fact that she?s no longer a CP of mine. I figured that I ought to give it to someone who really had no idea that I liked her, as even Charlene could've figured that out, since she obviously knew my type, and she knew she was Chinese... (Duh.) I had a hard time looking for Dione, though. Took me about half an hour to get to her...

I wouldn't say that it completely backfired, but with one of my old acquaintances also from M.E. around (Who was fishing almost all night long from Dione whether or not she's no longer single.), it was quite awkward for me afterwards. I hope that the awkwardness doesn't last beyond graduation, as I really just thought I?d hand her one just for the Hades of it, as it's my last chance to let her know that I did like her, after all. Of course, now I think a lot of things I used to do would suddenly make sense to her... but still, no big deal, as that's that anyway, and I have a strong feeling she's already taken.

.:And Then?:.

There were a couple of people I didn't give blue roses to, though the thought did cross my mind quite heavily, unlike, say Clarence, whom I hardly knew enough, or Shar, who might not be such a great sport about it, for all I know. Yes, it did cross my mind to consider Abby, but I was adamant at not courting disaster by handing her that, whether or not Bro was around. Why beat on a dead horse, anyway? It's not like that would've been interesting to her, neh? That one would've been plain predictable. On the other hand, I didn't give Audrey a blue rose simply because I didn't think it was going to do me much good, really. Not only is she taken, but I don?t think I know her well enough for her to take that with just a grain of salt.

With that being said, that was a total of forty pesos I just saved myself...