Maging Akin Ka Lamang/Two Tumbs Up!

Maging Akin Ka Lamang:

      Tinawagan ako ng mom ko sa cellphone. Gulat ako sa kanyang sinabi. Tanong kais iya kung anong model ng Digital-San Lorenzo Ruiz na Nikon ang gusto ko. Sinabi ko sa kanya kung ano pagkatapos, sabi niya, titignan ng firend niya ung tungkol sa model na iyon sa Columbia-Sm Megamall. Medyo naging tense bigla ang pakiramdam ko matapos ang tawagan.

      Kinagabihan, kinilaro na sa'kin ni Mommy na plano na niyang bilhin ang DLSR cam na gusto ko, lalo na rin na magagamit ko ito (higit sa lahat) sa akin pag-aaral. Masaya rin ako na matapos ng matagal na paghihintay ay magkakaroon rin ako ganong klaseng camera (at least matatapos na rin ang paniniskita ko dala ng sobrang inggit hehehehe!). Ayoko kasi matulad ng iba na dahil sa uso ay nagpapabili sila nito; ine-earn ito at ginagamgamit sa wastong panahon.

       Kawawa rin naman kasi iyung mga talagang propesyon o buhay na ang pagiging photographer. Kung ako ang nasa kanilang posisyon ay marahil damdam ko rin ang kanilang pananaw na maski'y sumigla muli ang interes sa larangan na ito, dala lamang ito sa uso at hindi dahil may passion sila sa ganitong klaseng obra.

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Two Tumbs Up!:

      I happened to bump myself with an old grade school friend of mine, Ryan Tumbocon while I was on my way home from school this afternoon. We saw each other amidst the large crowd commuting along the Monumento area in front of Araneta Square. We both wave at each other and smiled then wen on our separate ways.

     This guy also happened to be featured in CSB's Filipino-language lifestyle magazine, "Karilyon". And way even before that, he was also featured in a number of television programs (The Correspondents[?] and Y-Speak among others) and even on commercial years ago (You guys remember that Promil ad where a little boy raised his hands and said many things to his teacher much her amazement)?

      He's actualy a well-known guy since time I could remember. A child with a gift of speech, he possesses such great potential that right after its discovery, the rest, as they say, is history. And I only knew that when I watched that special episode of Y-Speak months ago!

       I first met him when I transferred to my new school in Malabon on July 1, 2002. He was somewhere behind me in line and I said to him my "high school" name, Jaime (which I came to be known throughout my 5 years in SJA). He was also a transferee from another school, Ateneo Grade School. He was one of 6-St. Mark's top students and was potentially a threat to our batch's Top 3.

 All of us in class became friends with him, but that era was short-lived.

      By second quarter of 2002, he was accelerated to his now-present high school batch. We still see him here and there but it grew increasingly seldom as the months, then years, go by. Even when my batch were already in high school, we all felt distant from Ryan, who was able to regain lost ground and rose to become an officer (VP during his last year) in the Student Council.

    It was no doubt that he returned to the Ateneo to pursue his college studies. I forgot what course he undertook but at first thought, I was thinking as if it'd be easy road for him to survive the jungle that is college. It was only on that Y-Speak episode had I understood his plight as well as those who were deemed as "gifted" becaus of their excellence in different fields while tey were young.

Before, I always see him as one lucky guy. because of what he has, it would have been easy for Ryan to get what he always wanted in life. But after watching Y-Speak, I know see him as a very grounded person, a person who is just as normal as every one else in the world. Him being gifted does not stop him from becoming a normal teenager trying to get a life. I hope he as well as the rest of the 6-St. Mark clas would be able to reconnect after all these years.

:):)