MTV From the guys of TK DOWNSOUTH

ROCK ON...

By Spartan Law... (para kay Ninong Ed)

(this was written last April 23, 2007. Published in www.thekid.tk)


Dear Sabine, hanggang ngayon, ang iyong laging bukang bibig ay "Sabine is going to school now".

Well, last week we went to Tagkawayan, your Lola Letty's and Mom's hometown and visited the High school where your Mommy graduated from: Our Lady of Lourdes Academy (OLLA). We went there to pay our respects to Ninong Ed Villaseñor. To your Mom and I he was "Ninong Ed" because he stood as one of the sponsors of our wedding. But to several generations of OLLA students he mentored, he was known by his knightly title of "Sir Ed".

At the most important juncture of her life, Sir Ed was one of those who inspired your Mom to continue her pursuit to earn a medical degree. This despite of the daunting odds and the personal loss she and your Lola suffered that year. They lost your Tita Adhey and Lolo Lony in a span of 40 days.

It was such an impossible dream at that time. But with God's help and with the help of inspiring mentors like Ninong Ed, she moved on to fulfill her dreams.

Sir Ed passed away unexpectedly. The whole town mourned his passing.

He was an institution. He was larger than life. In the end he was buried in the same school that saw him share the best years of his life with the youth that he mentored to adulthood. I think it was a fitting tribute to the man who lead a heroic life.

Why?

Because a school is a battleground for the hearts and minds of the young. And Sir Ed was one of its most gallant warriors. It was only right that his mortal remains be buried in the ground made hallow by his struggle to mold the minds of many generations with the Promethean fire.

There is a battleground in Greece called "Thermophyle" where a band of noble warriors were buried on the same ground where they made a stand against the forces of superstition, tyranny and ignorance. In doing so, they were able to preserve the most precious legacy of that ancient civilization: Freedom of Thought.

Their epitaph reads:

"Tell the Spartans, passerby...
That here, by Spartan Law, we lie."

2013... Para sa mga taga OLLA

D’Great predicted that the world will end on December 31, 11:30PM in the year 2012. Nobody doubted her when she made that prediction back in 2009. After all, she correctly predicted that Kris Aquino will be the first senator of the republic to be voted out of the Pinoy Big Brother’s house. TWICE. She accurately predicted that Korina Sanchez will seek annulment of her wedding to former Senator Roxas so that she can marry Willie Revillame instead. She was instrumental in the capture of Usama Bin Laden-- the US government gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom for that impossible feat. And on the day she saved the world from economic meltdown, the Dow Jones industrial average climbed to 20,000 points in just 30 minutes. That very day she was immediately given two Nobel Prizes: 1st in Economics and the second, for PEACE.

D’Great was so heartbroken when she made the prediction of the world ending in 2012. According to her closest confidante, Fr. Nicholas Regino, S.J., she decided to enter the convent of Mt. Zion. She can not give any more specific details about her prediction because according to Zion’s Mother superior, Sr. Marydor Somerset, she decided to take a lifetime vow of silence together with the other novices.

And so the whole world was left with no choice but to wait for its coming end which everybody thought was irreversible.

D’Great was NEVER WRONG in her predictions before.

And so, on the last day of the year 2012, the countdown for the end started… Everybody was resigned to their common fate. They have been shedding tears for years and months now, when December 31 came, there were no more tears left for anyone in the world to shed.…

By 11:00 PM… every body in the world came out of their houses to look at the night sky for the last time.

11:15 PM… there was complete silence.

11:20 PM…

11:25 PM…

11:29 PM… Everyone held their breath, their last breath before everybody dies.

10 seconds...
…
…
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…

11:30 came and went. But… EVERY ONE WAS STILL ALIVE!!!








By 11:34 PM, December 31, 2012 , everybody realized that for the first time, D’GREAT screwed up. The whole world was shaken by ecstatic shouts of joy by the living who couldn’t contain their emotions for surviving the predicted end..

By 11:40 PM, Radio, TV and the Internet came alive again, everybody was mocking the once infallible seer for the prediction that didn’t come true.

And so everybody was drinking champagne, celebrating being alive when the END of the world came on

12:00 AM, January 1, 2013…

It was as if God just snapped his fingers and the whole Earth suddenly vaporized, leaving nothing but cosmic dust in its place in the space between Venus and Mars.

D’Great was indeed wrong for the first and last time. The prediction was 30 minutes too early.


(Author’s Note: The Great Seer spent her High School days as a protégé in the prestigious Our Lady of Lourdes Academy, TagKawayan or TK, where students were taught the value of punctuality. They wear time pieces adjusted to be 30 minutes earlier than real time. That’s why even though their classes start at 7:30AM, any one who comes after 7:00AM is considered LATE. Hence, in making the prediction for the end, D’ Great Seer didn’t bother to make the proper adjustment because she has been trained to be VERY PUNCTUAL.)

(Author's Note: the story is just an adaptation of one of the short stories in this book of Isaac Asimov et al. My apologies to those who thought it was an original.)

TK Pix

Written last August 2008

Dear Kids, when we went home to TK last week, I was set up. Your Mom and Lola made made a plan to have the car blessed without consulting me. They asked Lolo Teody (Lola's brother, the one in the bike) to make arrangements with the local priest to spray the car with Holy Water.

You guys actually enjoyed the short ceremony. Lolo Teody also gave you a bike ride just before the blessing.

As for me, I'm just happy I was able to stop myself from turning the car's stereo on while the ceremony was going on. And play Hinder's song in full blast.

Written last August 18, 2008

Pictures were taken this morning, August 18, 6:30- 7:00 AM. Ayheen's Birthday. TK, a town in the Quezon province, is her birthplace.

Written last October 2007

Dear Sabine, We were on a tight budget because we had to go to the province during the long, all saint's day weekend. So we celebrated your birthday with only very few guests: us. But you enjoyed it very much. You wore your Cinderella costume and shared your Cinderella cake with us. Hey, the thumbs up sign on the right side of the picture? I noticed it just now and you told me it's your Ate Sage's hand.

The picture was taken on October 28, a sunday, when all of us were present.
















On the 30th, your real birthday, we ordered a giant pizza, relatively speaking, from Shakey's.

Then on the 31st we went to your Mom's province in Tagkawayan, Quezon.





There we stayed at the house of your Lolo Teody and Lola Helen (your Ninang Deeai's parents)

They let you play with the toys


You pitched in sometimes in cleaning the house while I just slept.



We went to the beach, a mere 5 minute drive away from the house.

I think this was just Sadie's second time to swim there.

Even on Vacation, your Lola Letty was still teaching you how to write the alphabet


Spectacular View

Made more breath taking by your presence


The egalitarian beach got its name from the Rock formation on the right.

Before leaving Tagkawayan we crashed into your Lola Chole's place (Lola Letty's best friend)

Picture of Sadie and Ate Ning. Lola Chole even let Sadie keep the stuffed toy Chihuahua when her Ninang Deeai cheekily asked for it. You christened the stuffed toy "Wa-Wah"



Thank You Lola Chole for everything including the dinner and for Wa-Wah!


On the way back to Manila, we stopped at Atimonan to have a Photo-op with the Mermaid. I think you guys started talking about being excited in putting up Christmas decorations at homee not long after this stop over.


You were so surprised when we arrived, because the decorations were already in place. Thanks to your Ate Malou who was left at the house during the long weekend.

By the way, Sabine, during the ride home, you kept on playing the "cuppy cake" song in your Mommy's cellphone:


Belated Happy Birthday Anaki!