It's A Small World

I have an arnis clubmate who is in the same English 11 class as my brother.

I have another arnis mate who is the orgmate and friend of someone very *ahem* special to me... ("special" : not really in a good way), as well as being the churchmate of my arnis prof.

And a shadow passed through my happy, golden state ... The ghost of my past comes knocking.

It is such a small world, and we are all connected. I'll bet if you struck up a conversation with a random stranger (i.e. the person sitting next to you in your G.E. class, or the student sitting across you in the IKOT jeep), you'll find that you have a common friend or "frenemy", or that you both attended a special event that influenced you greatly.

I used to believe in coincidences. But now, no longer.

And I used to feel lost and alone in what I thought was a huge and empty universe, but now my heart has been opened and I feel so happy, so "at one" with the beautiful world and all the living things in it ... if only this feeling could last. I know it can't. And so I pray for guidance and for grace that will let me navigate through the perils of this hard road called Life... even without my "happy, golden bubble."

~ ~ ~ ~

Two weeks into the sem, and I've checked out quite a number of books from the Main Lib. None of them have the slightest connection to my course, or to any of my classes. But they are for my self-edification and "building up," and how I regret not taking earlier advantage of the vast literary opportunities made available to me by virtue of my orange U.P. library card!!

I'm trying this new thing called "picking and choosing what I read." I used to read anything and everything, but 20 years of that and I've very little to show for it in terms of knowledge gained. There's something wrong with my reading diet, so I'm going to emulate a wise friend and stick with the tried-and-true.

~ ~ ~

I've been blessed with quite a number of good "harang" opportunities recently. Like next week, I'm being asked to fill in for another soprano who can't make it to the "musical" being staged for the Upsilon Fraternity Reunion. I got recommended by my former teacher, and although I have to memorize four songs in less than a week's time, I'm not complaining. :)  I never thought I'd be able to sing jazz, and I didn't really find it musically interesting before. But Dick Zamora's love songs are first rate masterpieces, and I am having the time of my life learning them. And I laugh at myself now when I think how worried I was about my "new voice." The new technique is serving me well; I can now sing pop/jazz/broadway songs in the vocal style that suits them best, whereas before I was limited to only one "big" voice.

I'm also very lucky to have been asked to sing as one of the soloists for J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio (Parts 1 and 2 with the UP Camerata Choir on Dec. 11, Parts 3 and 4 with the Ateneo Chamber Singers on Dec. 14 ... both with the Metro Manila Community Orchestra).

I am very grateful.

~ ~ ~

Yet another reminder for all of us, that knowledge gained is useless and will be forgotten unless practiced constantly and faithfully.

We were asked by our Env.Sci.1 prof this morning to answer a really simple question on 1/4 sheet of yellow pad: What is the degree wherein Celsius is equivalent to Fahrenheit?

It was an easy question, it was so easy that some of my Mech.Eng'g. and Chem. major classmates were able to solve it mentally. They submitted their papers with a flourish in under 30 seconds, accompanied with a slightly disdainful sneer that seemed to say, "Sir, you're nigh near insulting my intelligence."

The question was so basic that I distinctly remember encountering it when I took the UPCAT half a decade ago.

Problem was, I couldn't for the life of me remember HOW to go about getting the answer.

In the three minutes given for us to answer the question, my little messenger brain cells hurriedly scanned the innermost recesses of the brain, only to come up with broken synapses : "FILE NOT FOUND."

And so I left the room, humbled but grateful for the lesson.

(Just in case you're wondering, the correct answer was - 40 degrees Celsius. My brother was good enough to walk me through the basic mathematical processes involved. Thank goodness for genius siblings!)