The first storm…
In every sailing trip there will always be storms that you have to pass by. These storms could often cause a ship to sink, especially if they strike at the same time. Fortunately, I faced them when I’m still not that far from port.
Just this week I wasn’t able to sleep properly because I heard from my colleagues that Sir Randy was leaving. I asked about who said it and they said that it came straight from him. At first, I was just silent; thinking about why he would leave. Out of I-don’t-know what, I took my laptop and played the video of Do As Infinity’s Tao.
When I saw the video it reminded me of the disbanding of Do As Infinity, which happened last September 30, 2005. The video showed Tomiko and Ryo riding in different vehicles going their separate ways. It also kind of made the entire Randy-is-leaving news sink in a bit more. I suddenly found myself crying in the SPO. Good thing Nick was there to cover me and no one saw me burst into tears.
I know that it seems weird that I cried because someone is leaving. I’m really no stranger to that scenario and I’ve dealt with it somewhat-gracefully in the past but this was just different. Sir Randy was like a mentor, a father and a friend to me. Although I don’t really show it that much because I often make fun of him, I have so much respect for him. He is the one who gave me the final push to become a writer. He believed in my abilities and he always said that I have what it takes to become a journalist. I’ve learned a lot from him and he helped me improve in my craft. He was such an inspiration to me that the mere fact that I know that he was going to read something that I wrote made me try my best to write better.
So I struggled on for 3 sleepless days. Only to find out that what I’ve been weeping over was just a joke… Yes… you read it right… it was all a joke. Sir Randy confirmed it himself. He was just joking when he told the people in the SPO. They all took him seriously, though. It was just a joke… A really bad joke.
Oh well… I can’t really incarcerate him for that now, can I? I fell for it hook, line and sinker. So I guess I’ll just let the issue go. At least he’s not leaving anymore. That’s good news to me. Now I can try to raise my anchors so I could get back to my journey.
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The commencement exercises for my graduation happened just this Saturday. Of course, it was as boring as hell. But I was shocked when I heard Br. Armin Luistro, the President of the De La Salle System, call me by my nickname and pen-name, ‘BJ’, when he shook my hand as I got my "diploma" even though my real name was annouced. I guess he’s been reading my column then. It’s really nice to know that some people at the top actually are interested in what I have to say.
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I wasn’t really able to raise anchor yet. I don’t know. I guess I just got drenched too much by the rain that my new-found appreciation for it erred once again. It’s not that I hate it. I just don’t feel as enthusiastic about it anymore. I always seem to feel depressed whenever it does rain. So depressed that I actually bought a DVD of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, planned to buy new shoes (since my old prestos got destroyed by the rain), and fixed my room.
It’s kind of funny though. My room looks like an office now (pics shown below).
You know that it’s bad once I start fixing my room. At least I learned to appreciate the rain even for just a while.
