Currently here at my aunt's house, family bonding/picture taking after mass at Union Church... I'm uploading this...

.:Good Luck On Friday The Thirteenth:.

Just a bit of serendipity that happened in rapid succession last Friday...

I was walking towards Hobby Haven, when I saw Diane Sayo inside Ice Monster with some of her former blockmates. I just found it really interesting when I met up with her, as she was being harrassed and all by law school, and stuff like that, and we were just exchanging stories in rapid pace, as she had to go back to her friends, of course. She ended up bonking me on the head when I started talking about the usual suspect, though. I guess I need to sit her down for that conversation. It doesn't really make a lot of sense without the backstory.

I noticed that I wasn't as stunned by her, anymore, though. It's not that she changed or anything, really. She's still that nice and sweet friend I've known since fourth year high school. I think it's more that I recognize that some things are just simply a matter of deja vu, and I have to break the cycle that I still perpetuate at this point...

Then, when I got to Eastwood (Made it just in time to hitch a ride with Kathy, Krizette, and Sacha.), while I was getting them food in McDonald's, I ran into Lani Lao, a Radio Idol survivor, and a friend of mine from college. Hope things turn out well for her, though. I told her to check out the fire spinning and all, but she's going to play basketball with her boyfriend, I believe... interesting. Never knew she was sporty.

I also ran into Mr. Dave Lozada in the plaza last night. I guess he was a bit amused to find out that his former student is doing fire dancing. I myself am still amused over the fact... who would've thought it, neh?

Lastly, I ran into one of my “students” in Dr. Ibana's Ph 104 class, who was mystified over his teacher's “sideline” during the weekends... talk about a lot of run-ins, really...

.:And The Superstition Persists:.

I'm still lucky. I'm still lucky. If I keep telling myself that, Maybe it'd come true.

First of all, being a Libran, I am not a superstitious person. It says so on my horoscope.

In spite of that, Friday the 13th last night was marked by a lot of really nasty occurrences that put my peacekeeping skills to the test. From the moment I was in the car with Kathy, Sacha, and Krizette, the tension was already flying. Sacha looked depressed, Kathy was irritable, and Krizette seemed plain disinterested. Needless to say, people weren't in high spirits, even though there was this highlighted conversation...

Kathy: So there's this stupid girl who didn't know how to commit suicide...

Krizette: Yeah! She bought a whole bag of Strepsils and popped them one by one into her mouth. She woke up the next morning with a bad headache and a sore throat, but very much alive...

Marcelle: Gee, I don't know who you're talking about...

Tensions were clearly running high, and a matter of deduction told me who was being perturbed by whom...

Even during performance time, everyone was off. Jo was waiting for someone who never showed up; Kathy was doing almost all the sets, probably to spite Eastwood over the contract or something; and for almost half of the performance, I was stuck at Seattle's Best Coffee because it rained and I was sick already. So much for my new Punisher t-shirt...

Ranulph was also there, by the way, so with him, Peppy, Jayca, Carl, and Dom, you know more or less the whole roster last night.

By the end of the night, Sach seemed lower than a snake's buckle. For once, I felt compelled to hug her because I figured that she needed it.

.:Level Up!!!:.

I can do the windmill now! Yay! Now, let's see if I can do the alternate wave, the overhead butterfly, and transitions, and I'll be set. Heh.

.:It's Been A While:.

Abby and I have rarely been talking seriously for quite a while, and I figured that both of us had our own worries to deal with over the past week. I understand perfectly well, in all honesty. She's having a blast with her work as of late, and the imminent shakeup of things for her are certainly going to throw into disarray the groove she was getting into already. Well, now she knows how I felt when my time schedule in WAVE got switched around... heh.

I hope Abby works things out with her work, though. It'd be nice to see if she'd ever end up teaching in Ateneo when she goes for M.A. studies, though. If not, it'd be nice to see her try and teach in the collegiate level, wherever she may choose to go...

Good luck, my best friend.

.:Retreaded:.

So I had a day of rest instead of persisting in going to class last Saturday. I guess I was so under the weather, but the good thing is that I set myself up quite well enough to not have to be so affected by my not-so-great condition by the time I got to Eastwood to go fire spinning.

The tournament didn't push through this weekend. Apparently, things weren't going too smoothly for everyone, but at least I managed to work things out nonetheless. I'm only picking up three sets of ARUS this time... so there. After some funny conversations with Hanz, Arvin, and Lloyd, I then took a cab to Eastwood, and things were already picking up when I got there. Everyone in general was in higher spirits than the last time. Of course, the attendance that night was significantly lower: Sacha, Kathy, Dominique, Krizette, Pan-M (!), and myself. Of course, Mr. and Mrs. Chua were there this time.

Spinning went so well. I was doing far better than I used to, as I was doing my moves right for the most part. More interestingly, I ran into another one of my students in Dr. Ibana's class, who was stupefied over the stuff we were doing. Other than the rain, the only annoying thing about Saturday night were the hecklers we got at one point in the performance. Kathy was tempted to hand them the poi and see for themselves if they can do the stuff we do...

.:R-e-s-p-e-c-t:.

While Kathy is honestly far from my type (In spite of being Chinese.), I cannot help but realize that I have loads of respect for her and the things she does at this point. From teaching a klutz such as myself to do relatively well in fire dancing, to all the things she still manages to do that I wouldn't even dare try, she has more than earned my respect.

Respect of this level, more than any other distinction, is arguably the second most difficult thing to win from me. Trust, being my prerequisite for love, is obviously the most difficult thing for me to give to anyone.

One of the most interesting things she did last Saturday night was when it was raining and nobody else dared to spin since it was raining so hard, she then decided to spin under the rain on her own. Suddenly, singing in the rain no longer works... more like spinning in the rain. Impressive, without a doubt.

I'm sure she wouldn't even know I've been singing her praises like this behind her back. To keep myself the unflappable, unimpressed individual that I make myself out to be around her, I'd like to keep it that way. ;)

.:Ideas And Notions:.

So while everyone was under the shed given all the rain, lots of things were happening that turned out to be pretty interesting. For one, tic tac toe and sprouts and other mathematical games became the order of the day. Pan-M was really bored out of his wits, and it wasn't long before Sacha ran out of games and started cracking corny jokes instead. Then, the whole thing turned to drawing and word games, such as anagrams...

Nonetheless, I was conversing with Sacha's mom, and I told her about running into one of my students...

Mrs. Chua: So you're becoming popular now, Marcelle?

Marcelle: It's not about popularity, ma'am...

Sacha: I thought it was about punishment, Marcelle?

I swear... that wasn't even on my mind... oh, well.

Sacha's been feeling significantly better this night, and we had a lot of fun with all the stuff we were doing throughout the night. She'll be leaving for Hong Kong this Wednesday and will be gone until Friday, apparently. Ha. I don't see myself doing stuff like that easily...

The way I see it, Krizette and Pan-M seem to have been hitting it off quite well. They've been conversing with one another fairly well, and there was word going around that Krizette was more comfortable with Pan-M than she was with the rest of us. I'm surprised Kathy didn't react so violently, either... still, at one point in the conversation...

Pan-M: I'm sorry. I just really get along so well with Krizette. It's some kind of a chemistry...

Marcelle: I'm sorry. Something got in my eyes and made them roll on instinct.

Kathy: You say I'm mean, but you're a pretty nasty b*st*rd yourself, Marcelle.

Marcelle: Not really.

Kathy: A mean beeyatch, then?

And later on...

Marcelle: If you weren't sisters with a really good friend of mine, Kathy, I'd have called you the “b” word already.

Kathy: I called you that last time, right?

Marcelle: Well, yeah.

Kathy: Bagay, sister!