A prologue that's supposed to be funny, enumerations of my extraterrestrial activities on Earth within the year, epilogues with charming if not annoying epiphanies... This was the format of my recent summations (not to mention the ones I did not post via Internet). All I can say to them: They are so 2008!! (2007, 2006, and so on...)

Each and everyday we learn a lot of stuff. We don't live just for the sake of breathing, we live for the sake of learning, and I'm not zeroing in on schooling. So this year, there are a lot of realizations that I don't need to create a summation with a number of epilogues (I still cherish my "The Crinkle Incident" epilogue though). So instead of telling you Earthlings about the things that happened to me this year (which I doubt that you care about unless you're a voyeur), allow me to deliver stuff that I learned in 2009:

1. Professors will always use your failing to graduate to make you do what they want from you. There was always that sense of running (Amazing Race style) around the campus for a mere sheet of attendance and those occasional "We're sorry we weren't prepared" which entails tasks which summons your inner super powers.

2. Attend your board review--especially if you belong to the same school as mine. There's something really great about spending your summer inside an air-conditioned room with the lullabies of your review masters. Chill. You'll pass the exam. All you have to do is get the reviewers and lie around the venue of the review.

3. Always remember: the best contraceptive of all is your best friend's advice. My friend may have ended up pregnant, but she had a hell of a time with her family and her conditions. The relief here is that she's now more than proud to have a very charming son. (There is even a temptation of us adopting it)

4. A relationship will never be complete without arguments. Yes, it happens--FACE IT. Even the smallest things (Like the front seat of a jeepney or a pack of Gummy Worms) are triggers of huge misunderstandings. Don't think you can't solve it anymore, space is the best solution when you can't untangle the crisis. After singing "All you need is love", you'll start belting out "All we need is space" in a a relationship.

5. Never spend your anniversary with your loved eating your favorite food as much as you can if you're house is not two feet away from the restaurant. This checked the box of GLUTTONY in our Accomplished Seven Deadly Sins list.

6. Never trust as easy as declaring someone as your friend. Sometimes, with even petty things, they will plot the most evil method against you or you and your partner. Trust is carefully earned. NEVER EVER TRUST easily even with your best friends.

7. Teaching is not a profession: It's a devotion. If you can't handle the tasks, quit. Signing a contract is not really as easy as putting ink on paper. But the hell one knows what he was in for? There's more than what you think you must do as a teacher. In the next millennium, I predict Octopuses become teachers so that they could handle everything at once. (The students are just the best part of it, they keep me going... The rest are bull.... Give me the memo).

8. Never trust your siblings when you have a fugitive at home, especially if you have a siblings who thinks he/she is so popular that he/she can say whatever he wants even if it really means life and death over someone very important to you.

If I were to tell you ALL of my realizations this year, I'd be having 364 bullets to fill in. Tonight, everyone will watch fireworks, burn their hands with fire crackers and turn up the volume as loud as their neighbor's. You say good bye to 2009... Look forward for a better next year coming. No, it does not become as how you look at it. You have to work it out. Start over if you think you've done things which are not righteous. The important thing you do today is you reminisce what YOU'VE LEARNED throughout the year. Or else, you need to go back where the chalk is dusty and the educators carry whips.

There had been a lot of silent turmoil around The Circle this year (The Circle in here means my group of friends ever since high school which grew until today). There had been a lot of issues, a lot of arguments. But, most of them are not resolved through formal settlements.

December 26, 2009. The date was set to connect all the missing parts of this body to make it whole again. Everyone agreed to the date. It had been a tradition to meet up on that day to celebrate the holidays. The tables were set, all the foods were taken care of, greetings never vanished.

There was a slight anticipation about the conversation regarding the issues.

There was laughter, teasing, and a lot of laughter... We couldn't end the day (or shall we say night), not even a giant bottle of tequila could bring us down. We called it a day... prepared the beds, some left... we threw arms over each other...

Nothing...

Not a single mention regarding the issues we were supposed to talk about. Nobody dared to open (I slightly gave out a cue asking people what they want to say to the group... But no one ventured to let it our, not even me...).

An epiphany occurred to me: It is friendship. We all ought to talk about our shortcomings and misunderstandings and I have been, all this year, the one who would always come up usually in rage to confront people involved. But this day, we ought to shut up about it. We never let anything to ruin the evening. It was already a swell hell of a night. Through our actions and through our bonding, the understanding was there. What's best about this friendship is that what kept us bonded tight again is when we missed each other.

The problems we had with each other made us a tighter bond. Remember, tangled knots hold on to each other tight.

I guess that's the logic behind it. We don't need to entangle everything. We just had to understand. And I love that word which is applied to MOST of us: understanding. All of us are capable of understanding each other. Sometimes, instead of whining about in the group, we just need a moment of silence and space to realize our own faults if not how much we really need each other.

I don't know yet if this is true, but this text message I received months ago is quite interesting:

"Never explain; Your enemies won't believe you and your friends don't need it anyway."

Okay, don't make me laugh. It's this whole Christmas thing that people are talking about. I'm no Grinch and I'm no hater of this holiday. But really? Santa Claus? Mistletoe? Snow? Sales? Damn right it is CHRISTmas.

Okay, okay, I'm not going to blab about stuff like Christmas is all about LOVING and GIVING and everything that's in between. But hey, it is a cliche because it is the truth. But still, people don't get the whole sense.

It's merely the birth of Christ. THAT'S what e are celebrating--not the gifts, not the christmas trees, not the forgiving. Forgiving, loving, etc. are just under that celebration.

Why do we have so many symbols for Christmas? Why do we need to come up with the Santa idea? or the kisses under the mistletoe? Hmmm... Okay, so that makes it fun at some point but the point here is---why can't these remind us about Jesus and what he has done for us? Now, I'm not that religious or anything but isn't that what Christmas is all about?

Throw me the big snowball, ladies and gentlemen, you may.

I just find it more than odd that even the atheists (who claim they don't believe in anything) even celebrate the holiday. I mean, come on... Be consistent...

And to those who are already pissed of me and think I am a major kill joy I got two words for you--two words you should remember as you eat the turkey on your tables, as you tear away the gift wraps, as you roast chestnuts on an open fire:

MERRY CHRISTMAS.

But new years are merrier.

Recently, I found this news in Yahoo! about artists hiding in their own masterpieces by painting on themselves and making themselves invisible in the picture. Lately, I felt almost the same when I came to a epiphany that I can be invisible... at least to my students!

At school, I wear these huge uniforms and I blend in with the other teachers simply because I wear it. But I go casual... It felt like Invisible Girl, though I'm not really invisible and I'm not really a girl (not yet a woman... WHAHAHAHA!)... There were times that I would find my students in the street and I would stare at them, smile at them and go closer to them without them even recognizing. I found it funny.

I thought that would be the last time I would encounter such. But yesterday, when i found two of my students in the street while I wore my simplest casual shirt and shorts, I stared at them closely and not a single sign of recognition flashed on both of their faces. One of them just looked at me for a second and no more. It's not that they were snobbish or they didn't really care about me; I know them. They were not the type who snob teachers even outside school.

And a while ago, after we had our activity, I immediately changed clothes (from my huge pants and sort of big shirt to my fitting gray shirt and black skinny jeans) as soon as I got out of the school. When I walked down the streets, the students barely recognized me at all. They never gave any sign that they found Mr. Garcia walking like a bad ass in the street.

And I dressed up before I go out, I was listening to "If U Seek Amy" and reminisced about the video when Britney dressed from wild to simple; I was doing the topsy-turvy version. Well, only five months to go and I'll be 100% back to MYSELF!! I'll harvest my own self back to where I should be, not where I pretend I am.

I remember back in college (I’m old!1 I’m using such clause!!!) that my philospohy teacher and my classmate Iya would chat about the thing they have in common: their partners with unblessed visage. They pointed out that one of the best things about it is not worrying that their partners would be seduced by any other creature on the planet because not one creature (other than them) would dare. I had to nod in agreement with that.

Now, it seems to me that my situation with my partner is quite a challenge considering that my Baby is, ehem, really good looking. My Baby have encountered people who were really obsessed with him; from old hags to emotional motherfuckers (bitter??!). One of those men had committed u-suicide just a few months ago with part of the reason for doing so is when my Baby left him (but they really had nothing). There was also this guy who tried to seduce my Baby in a bedroom. After a few months, that guy was found dead and my Baby only learned it from the news (That’s what he get for trying to seduce my Baby!!!)… Then there is this stalker last last week.. Then since last last week, there is this guy who believed he had a more-than-friends relationship with my Baby and even dared ask a question such as “who will you choose: James or me?” They ended their conversation with that desperate guy weeping stupidly (as if that guy has no relationship with another).

We started thinking that maybe my Baby had a curse… See the pattern of the tragedy that falls under everyone who tried to seduce my Baby? Hehehe.. Maybe the only one who gets the immunity is the one who is really loved.. *clears throat* Hehehehe.. Cheese…

But in any ways, my philospohy teacher and Iya are right: That beauty leaves me biting my nails whenever we’re not together. But, hey, all I need is trust… And some extra super powers to leave those scavengers bleeding on the ground.