I spent part of the past two weekends with my high school classmates. It was a mini-reunion where we saw each other after several years, caught up with each otherโs lives, shoved high-cholesterol dishes down our throats, talked like a gaggle of geese, laughed like hyenas and reminisced what happened more than twenty years ago like forgotten senior citizens at a nursing home. In short, it was like old times.
I wrote about my high school experience here, and having read this will give one an idea why we have a bond that seems unbreakable.
On Saturday, Jed, the most organized person I know, showed us one of his Pisay party weapons โ a collection of our high school photos (the other one is his collection of trivia questions). It was fun and cringeworthy. We laughed at our younger selves — gahd, we looked ridiculous! ๐ We did not have bad hair days, we had bad hair YEARS! We had baduy clothes that did not fit and eyebrows that had not met a pair of tweezers. Despite these things, or maybe because of these things, we were genuinely happy in all the photos! I know we were in that particular school to be the next scientists and engineers, vanity was the last thing in our minds.
My girl classmates and I. I think it was a tradition to have a photo every stipend day. Photos courtesy of Jed.
Some of my classmates. Melai and Yan with The Thinker pose. Photos courtesy of Jed.
My boy classmates. Photos courtesy of Jed.
As far as I remember, this is one of the first photos we had. With Maโam Tayo, the teachers and staff. Photo courtesy of Jed.
Physical Education class with Sir Dagom. I am not sure why I was barefoot and I looked like that. Haha. Photo courtesy of Jed.
We visited the site of our campus. OMG, we were too tiny and too cute then. ๐ Photos courtesy of Jed.
Our very first quiz bee! Jed claims (hehehe) that they won first place. I need someone to refute it. ๐ I joined but knew nothing. My only contribution was raising our groupโs number. Photos courtesy of Jed.
We participated in Kasadyahan Festival. We had ping pong balls attached to our caps to symbolize aliens or something. Photo courtesy of Jed.
One of our (our first?) overnight stays in the cafeteria. Yan cooked our chicken. Photo courtesy of Jed.
Our first Student Council election. Photo courtesy of Jed.
Our sports festival. Sports festival was one of my dreaded activities because I do not like sports (playing them). In our senior year, Zy, Nikki, Virg and I became the water girls. We prepared ice water for our athletes in exchange of not participating in any sport. I think we made a damn fine job at being water girls! ๐ Photo courtesy of Jed.
Our volleyball team. They looked like underfed farmers. ๐ Photo courtesy of Jed.
Our trip to Nagpana, to meet some indigenous people. Photos courtesy of Jed.
Lantern making contest. Lloyd was our go-to guy for anything that involved art and/or handcraft. Ugh, those pants and NO FEAR shirt! And that dog tag necklace! Ugh! Ugh! Ugh! Photo courtesy of Jed.
Our first fastcraft ride after visiting San Miguel Corporation and Victoria Milling Corporation. I had my first taste of beer that day. Photo courtesy of Jed.
School presentations na kinakarir. Photos courtesy of Jed.
School presentations na dinidibdib. Photos courtesy of Jed.
Linggo ng Wika also required bigay-todo performances. Photo courtesy of Jed.
All of my batchmates during our second Linggo ng Wika. Photo courtesy of Jed.
One of our early science fairs. Photos courtesy of Jed.
I have no idea when and where this was taken. ๐ Photo courtesy of Jed.
The CAT officers. We had “Tough Girls Never Give Up” printed on the back of our CAT shirts. We wanted to project toughness, but failed miserably, except for Alej. ๐ Photo courtesy of Jed.
Guimaras trips. The bottom photo was taken years after we finished high school. We swam, played mah jong and then spent the night in a dilapidated two-storey bamboo house. Photos courtesy of Jed.
We played Super Trump during breaks. :)
Our classrooms. The top photo shows the Tau classroom (where I belonged). Marc Dean and his pocketbook were inseparable. ๐ The bottom photo shows the Graviton classroom, with MariMar and Sergio as their gods. ๐ And yes, we had kite flying contest. :)
My batch posed for our last few photos at Pisay. Photo courtesy of Jed.
Our wacky pose. Photo courtesy of Jed.
Burying our time capsule. Photo courtesy of Jed.
Our graduation ball. When blending was not uso. ๐ Photo courtesy of Jed.
In high school, I fell in love with PBA (Philippine Basketball Association). Although I was loyal to Rey Evangelista, my love for it knew no bounds. With Christine and some players of Sunkist and Purefoods.
With Ellen, Arly and Justine with players of San Miguel Beer.
Then we grew up and became older and wider, I mean wiser.
With Jed and Boy Abunda at Cinemalaya. Photo by John.
With Edsel, Jun, Jed and Jonelo after New Yearโs Eve celebrations.
Lunch with the singles two Saturdays ago. :)
Those were the good old days.. in your solo photo above, I canโt recognize which one are you.. mas bagay kayo ni…. ( i canโt name it here) hahaha.. ๐ You aged gracefully.. hahahaha.. ๐
Thank you, Emee. ๐ Ako ang sa leftmost top portion and the photo beside it it also me.