There is a simple project that was passed on to me by Vince. As a person who is totally connected with his mild Obsessive – Compulsive behavior, I can’t seem to resist myself in thinking ahead of time my next topic for this blog. To be honest with all of you, my entries are already set for the next two weeks. Yeah, that’s how friggin boy scout I turned out to be. Of course in between those planned and reflected experiences are bouts of candid inspirations that may break the queue. I always make sure that each post that I publish would have a one to three days interval so that readers can savor what I want to convey. But projects like these are not included in my list. Yet, it serves as an icebreaker for my humorous, ironic and sometimes very sentimental posts.

My Eight Notorious Random Facts:

1. During a civil wedding that I and my parents attended when I was six years old, I was wearing a not-so brand new boots that I wore in my kindergarten Graduation. As the ceromony was being held in the judge’s courtroom, I stumped my feet on the wood-tiled floor. Not only did I stump my feet once but twice and I think thriceâ?¦ so the Judge, with a loud voice turned to me and scolded me saying â??Punyeta ka â??. After that, I never wore those boots again.

2. I used to put thumbtacks on my classmatesâ?? seat every mass in our school chapel during the second grade. And yes, they shrieked loud enough to earn the ire of the D.C. Nuns. Me? I had my ears and side-burns (side-whiskers/patilya) pinched by my adviser who almost tore them off from my head.

3. I read the whole passage of the â??Exodus Journey of Mosesâ?? as my opening prayer (I was the assigned prayer leader of the week) in one of our Computer class in High school just to kill time, and of course to avoid the impending quiz of that day. My teacher made me stop, but I reasoned out that our Sor Principal would get angry if she learns that my teacher is trying to obstruct our prayer. The poor teacher was helpless and went out of the classroom after the long, very very long rendition of the ten commandments. She wasn’t able to give the quiz that day and as expected, the teacher was so furious at me that actual smoke breathes forth from her nostrils. My classmates made me Hero of the day and gained their respect as the most notorious â??Pilosopoâ?? of all time.

4. The next day, my computer teacher came in class with smirked face and her usual foot-rule chin. She lamented how disappointed she was the previous day. So before we even recited our opening prayer for her class, she warned us that no more bible passages will be read but instead we would use our traditional prayers. Traditional prayers huh? Well I am not Einstein or Newton nor will I ever be, but Iâ??m definitely a smart**s. I was prepared for her counter-strike. So when the teacher said the magic words â??Let us prayâ??, I led the prayer with the usual â??In the name of the fatherâ??, then made our sign of the cross, and all of us, simultaneously took our rosary from our pockets! (I already briefed my classmates beforehand). Of course, the teacher again was furious and she wasnâ??t able to give us another quiz that day. The third day she gave up our class to another computer teacher.

5. I used to baptize our teachers with crazy names. I gave the name â??Almoâ?? for my teacher who has the surname of â??Ranasâ?? and I called Mrs. Banog â??Lamâ?? whenever sheâ??s not around, thus Ms. â??Almoâ?? Ranas and Mrs. â??Lamâ?? Banog. Our anorexic assistant principal however, who was fond of suspending me in class due to my tardiness (My home is just a block away from my school) gave me a terrible sermon. From then on, I use to refer to her as BONESA- skin, bones and all. These names were passed on from batches after batches. Up to now, those labels that I used to refer them are still very much popular today as it was 14 years ago (My cousins who are currently studying there told me). And if ever an investigation would progress, all fingers will point at my direction.

6. During our graduation rites practice, our names are called in this order: surname, then first name, and then the middle name. Example: if my name is Jose Pidal Velarde, I will be called on the stage as Velarde, Jose y Pidal. 14 years ago (you do the math) we have a classmate who is Chinese and had this very odd name. I used to tease her during our break from practice and she was so mad at me for making her name so popular that even to this day, that graduation day prank is still considered as a classic. What was the name of my classmate? Sheena Yu Tan. Figure it out for yourself, this is a wholesome blog.

7. When I was five years old, me and my childhood friends would play the role of â??Superfriendsâ??. Of course when Superman is involved in childish role-playing, flying would always be the main powers. We were practicing our imaginary flying abilities and jumping from an eight-level stairs and taking turns in demonstrating our flight prowess. This kid in front of me was making fake attempts in jumping and holding the line behind him. So as irked as I was back then, I went in front of the line and pushed him hard saying: Lipad Na! (Fly Already!). He did fly and I think I pushed him too hard because he ended up in the emergency room having six stitches in his upper lip.

8. My cousins were so gullible during our kiddie days that they would believe anything that you would tell or show them, with less effort of course. At age six, I was making this fake magic trick by boasting that the marble in my hand would disappear. I was secretly sliding the marble inside the neck-hole of my shirt. But I guess I was carried away too much that instead of hiding it inside my shirt for the last trick, I put the marble in my mouth. My cousins were looking for it in my hand but to no avail until they noticed that I was not saying a word. So they forced me to open my mouth to prove themselves that the marble was “inside” me. And because I do not want to spoil the magic trick, I opened my mouth and hid the marble on the side of my cheek, with my tongue covering it. Unfortunately, few seconds past, I talked and forgot that the marble was still inside my mouth. Yep. I swallowed it whole and my parents panicked and brought me into the emergency room. A day later, the marble got out of me in our toilet bowl: Plok! There was the missing marble!

You know sometimes our wicked past serves to better our future. Everyone makes mistakes in the past, and mine was one heck of a roller coaster. Yet in my journey in life, these mistakes made my self-awareness more profound that I was able to correct everything that transpired. But of course I cannot anymore bring back the glorious lip that my playmate once had, but then again his scars would also remind him of his own mistakes, just like what my own emotional and psychological scars did to me. Our past should be the gauge of our present situation: It is either you stay, or you move on. You choose.