the last sembreak, maybe

"I thought it will always be that easy,

rolling up the clothes, deciding the needs,

and packing the rest lightly,

but upon carrying the luggage one noon,

in every step, the load became heavier and heavier

that the whole trip made me ache in pain."
Oct 11 / 08 (02:16pm)

Someone just gave me a strong blow on the head. There was no bleeding, don’t worry. “This could be your last sembreak,” she said before I left Dumaguete to go back to Tagbilaran. Pausing for a while, her words seeped into my rational coconut. My goodness, she could be right. If all arrows point to that path everyone seemed to be so jittery and excited about, yes, this could be my very last.

Four years. That’s how long I’ve been living the life of a student meeting different people matched with different eccentricities. To me, these years are categorized in two sets: first is the Turtle-Slow Years and second the Fickle-Fast Years. The basics here is that the first set makes one to take things in perspective the overachieving way but tends to look at time to be so sluggish he or she ends up bored. The second part is the exact opposite. One just takes everything so lightly that an “INC” in a grade form is but a brush on the shoulder, a speck of dirt on the shoe. As long as it is done in the near end, everything’s just fine. Aside from that fact, days will just pass like a minute or so. One will just be surprised it’s the final examinations. And of course, the anticipated break follows. But this time, I am starting to doubt if I wanted this vacation.

Looking back, the trail I’ve made in the university is quite, shockingly, interesting. I have metamorphosed into various forms not known to many acquaintances. From a 3rd floor library bug, a student nurse shadow, a constant all-around competition contender, a radical regional organization leader, a lonely Creative Writing major drowning in the shadows of Katipunan Hall, a College of Mass Communication honorary member, to a broken piece of emotional apparatus and a features editor for two consecutive years, I can say that I’ve accepted a wide array of roles many would not like to take.

It is just oh-so fortunate that along the way, in the path mentioned earlier, I’ve met a few strangers that somehow possessed the same line of thinking that I had. Some joined in the stroll, had an animated chat, and left. Some even took the extra mile of carrying my things but, sad to say, the moves were just for show. Some remained and learned the way I walk that they’d run with me when I run for fun, jog in place with me when I jog in place to build up the mood, and rest on a bench when I rest on a bench for a much needed rest. In the coming days, though it’s too early to say, I put my hopes on solid anchor that all the people who I consider my “special” acquaintances will sit on the bench with me whether I am on sembreak or not.

Hope to see you soon, bullfrogs! Keep on hopping.

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