The Comeback

Last Thursday was my rain-pattered last lab exam of Bio 12. I was walking along Katipunan, with feet lifted slightly sideward instead of the usual upward because my pants would stain when soaked. Then as I occasionally examined my pants for mud-slops, I saw a lean tall man stop and stare at me. I stopped too and was shocked at what I saw. The last time I saw this man was more than two years ago, and I remember quite well the "bacterioFUDGE," the avant-garde and Marcel DuChamp, the tripartite statue, his BILLBOARD (oo nga, commercial model pala siya) and the endless but non-sleepless historical accounts of arts framed in kaleidoscopic micro-slides that clicked with every slide-change. The girl he was with must have been confused when I approached them and both of us were open-mouthed. But what made my mouth open wider was the fact that the teacher I had more than a couple of years ago remembered my first name! He was only doing a sort-of OJT in Pisay as an art educator, not an official Pisay faculty member, but a million times better than the official teacher (okay, exagg).

"Wow, anlaki mo na. Len, this is Ben, my student from Pisay. He was second year then," Sir Manuel says. (Man_uel Ca_rre_on yung pangalan niya, underscores included to avoid Google from popping me up when his name's Googled)

I don't actually know if I heard it right but Len was the name I can recall. It was really flattering that he remembered me out of all the students he had from various schools, such as Miriam/Poveda (not sure which), Ateneo, etc. I mean, if I were he, I would have forgotten my more-than-two-years-ago students. Add to it the fact that he went to the US for quite a long time.

I was like, "Wow, you remember"
And he was like "Of course"

And then our conversation led to my course: M--(I almost forgot that I was talking to an arts teacher), Molecular Biology and Biotech po

Sir: Ahh, MBB (Wow, I was surprised at how he knew that the term was MBB)
Di ka naman oblation?

Me (sa kaloob-looban ko, nagtataka ako bat niya naman tatanungin yun, pero anyway, sinagot ko rin): Oblation po.

So I fairly deduced that he graduated from UP, most prolly Fine Arts? :))

And then he was like, Kumusta ka na??
And I was like, May exam po.
And he was like, O nagmamadali ka ba?
And I was like, Medyo po.
And he was like, Ok, kung gusto niyo akong bisitahin andyan lang ako sa Ateneo High school
And I was like, Bakit ka naman namin bibisitahin? (but only in my head LOL)

So the exam went like STR. Computations galore for the Simpson's Diversity Index, Morisita's Index of Dispersion, blabla. Good thing, they gave out the formulas.
Tas, dahil di naman nagbabasa nito ang mga bio friends ko, allow me to brag. :)) Paminsan-minsan lang to, kaya itataga ko na sa blog na ito. ANG TAAS KO SA LAST BIO LAB EXAM. WOOHOO. :)) 58/60 O diba? Hightech talaga sa chamba Ben!!! Sige na, pagbigyan niyo na ako, meron naman akong mababa e.

MY VERY FIRST TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE.

But then, after the exam, I had my very first traumatic experience. Jack and I shared the same traumatic fate as we rode the Katips jeep. We were seated near the front as the jeepney was almost filled. (You know how Filipino culture works: passengers want to sit as nearer the exit as possible so that they would not have to hold and pass the grimy fares of the new incomers or they'd not have to say "Bayad daw po"; so if you get in a bit late and there are a lot of passengers already, chances are, you'd have to sit near the driver).

Anyhow, the ride went on as any ride should. But when we got to Shuster, there was this weird sound that kept on repeating: abruptly interrupted clinks as though someone wanted the jeepney to halt. And murmurs from someone are heard, although vaguely. But the jeepney never stopped. I myself was never sure if the person murmuring loudly but vaguely had wanted to get off. But when we got past Mercury Drug, along Berkeley Residences (the SM-owned condo being built), everyone was alarmed when the guy beside me KICKED the guy in front of him as though they were fighting over something. Everyone thought they knew each other, but this assumption was dismissed the moment the guy who got kicked shouted "Mama tulungan niyo ako, mga snatcher 'tong mga 'to." The jeepney had a world of its own. The driver immediately stopped. The guy next to me stood up and kicked some more. The guy from my other side immediately stood up and dove from the window ledge onto the outside world, escaping the possible threats of being stuck and held up. A guy near the exit exits. The kicked victim fights back. Another guy says out loud "Ang lakas mo mambintang a." Then four guys, later to be known as the snatchers, get off the jeepney, getting hold of nothing save embarrassment.

The events happened so quickly that the only thing that I had done was to stand up and try to get to the front seats as Jack and I were trapped. Imagine FOUR MUSCULADOS blocking the exit. Imagine if they all had knives pocketed and threatened us all to give up our phones and valuables and still slit some of us. Imagine the adrenaline I must have wasted but still not being able to move much. I was essentially TRAPPED. And if the FOUR SNATCHERS hadn't on them bits of halos, they would've exposed knives. That brief moment, about a second or so, I thought of a lot of things: getting to the headlines (JEEPNEY MASSACRE AND ROBBERY), my family and the worries and tears I'd have inflicted them, my phone and my money, my ID :)), "Is this the end for me?", and "what about the exam tomorrow?" This last one was quite funny and I was laughing when I recounted the events that took place. For some weird reason, I still had in me the interest in Bio. :))

Anyhow, so you might ask what happened? Well, the four snatchers got down before anybody with photographic memory remembered them. The guy who exited re-entered. There were some who got off and never got back. Nobody's phone got stolen.

The reason why the guy got kicked was because he was telling the passenger beside him to take heed because there were snatchers around. The guy who got kicked narrated to the ones left behind that the moment he got in the jeepney, the guy beside him, felt his pockets, and he was quick enough to ask the "feeler" why he was feeling his pockets. (Sa kaloob-looban ko, napaka-unprofessional naman ng snatcher, nafefeel ng sinasnatchan niya yung kamay niya).

Apparently, the four snatchers badly looked at him in the face, and all must have wanted him killed and shut off because he was a lousy kiss-up. Anyhow, the guy beside me got pissed at him warning everyone of snatchers (the murmurs were warnings pala) so the snatcher beside me kicked him on the crotch. (ayayay, nanghihina ako sa nangyari). Thanks to Mr Someone who got kicked, not a single phone got snatched.

My sincerest gratitude to Mr SOMEONE who sacrificed and got kicked. If it weren't for you, w880i might have been gone forever.

PS If you were wondering what Jack did the entire commotion, I'd gladly say he was calm, too calm that he didn't move a single twitch. :)) He just sat in front of me, did nothing, never showed even the slightest movements. It must have been more traumatic for him than for me. =)) Poor Jack.

BIOLOGY

Okay, best part is, IT'S DONE!!! :)) No more Pandocia, or even Peziza, Acanthaster, Clonorchis, gynecophoric canals, Apocynaceae, Sepia, Loligo, Lobophyton, Metridium, Pocillopora, Cassiopeia, Galaxaura, Turbellaria, Digenea, Sarcomastigophora, and lots more. Although I'll miss the nautilus. :))