nine eleven nine

I never thought I’d say this, but this day almost killed me. This day should have been perfect, but because fate seems to have something against me, it turned out otherwise. In some aspects, I got exhausted, depressed and saddened. But in the end of the day, everything turned out all right. This has been one of happiest days of the year while being one of the most exhausting as well. Weird, huh? But as soon as I tell you all of what happened today, you’ll get my point.

It all started in the morning. I woke up at 6:30 a.m. and my first class for the day was at 7:00 a.m. I was horrified when I realized how much I overslept and that I had less than 30 minutes to get ready and drag myself to school. I got up, and went straight to the shower. After 30 minutes or so, I was done getting ready. Without even eating breakfast, I left for school.

When I arrived, my block mates were still just studying for our exam in Math. Our professor wasn’t there yet, so I wasn’t really late for anything. And surely, some of them knew about today, so they greeted and congratulated me. My irritation went away as soon as I arrived. My block mates never fail to cheer me up (especially my squad and my ‘niggah’ friends). :)

Later on, our professor arrived, and we had to start with today’s game. And that was the start of another misery. Our game for today was some sort of ‘Amazing Race’, but it wasn’t amazing—it squeezed out all the life in my breakfast-deprived body! It required us to run around the Pedro Gil part of the campus, and do some weird stunts like crab-walking. We used up the whole period just for the race. So just imagine us running around for two hours without stopping. I think I just lost a day’s worth of water this morning. Still, participating in the race was fun. Just don’t remind me of the “Skin the Snake” game wherein my block mates recorded a video of me freaking out because I hit a guy’s ‘private’ part with my head. Don’t ask.

After PE, I was pretty shaky. I couldn’t walk properly because I was shaking all over. Luckily, a four hour break comes after the period so I had a lot of time to regain all that I’ve lost in that race. We stayed in the CN tambayan to continue our study session for another challenge—the Math departmental exam.

During our stay in our tambayan, it started raining hard and it continued until the later parts of the day. And of course, I didn’t have an umbrella with me so I had to share with Erin. It was already difficult walking from Pedro Gil to Padre Faura, and with the rain and all the puddles, it was hell. By the time we arrived in CAS, my feet were making squishy sounds because I had water inside my shoes. My pants and hair were wet as well. Sigh. The day was turning out to be a really unlucky one.

Our last two classes in the afternoon went well. Thank God. When our Soc. Sci. class ended, my friends and I hung out in the library. (I know. We’re nerds.) We didn’t study that much there anymore. We just talked to each other and ate chocolates furtively. Fifteen minutes before our testing time, we went to our examination room to face our grim fate.

I knew it right before we got our hands on our test booklets. I knew I’d be having a hard time because of the following reasons: I didn’t have much time to prepare for the test because of other stuff that needed my time, and I was having a bad day. And yeah, I was right. As soon as I opened the booklet, I knew I was facing my downfall.

The test was HARD. I think it took me 10 minutes before I could turn the page and move on to page two (out of around 10 pages). That was really lousy considering that the first page only had six true or false questions and one word problem. As I moved on, I found myself skipping items. I wanted to skip all the hard parts, but it left me having blank pages. So I still attempted answering those intimidating questions and came up with answers I wasn’t so sure of.

Time flew. When the proctor announced we only had 30 minutes left, I panicked (or should I say ‘we’). I went back to the parts I had left unanswered and still couldn’t find the right answers. During the last two minutes, I gave up. I just stared at my paper and conceded to whoever was making my special day a torture.

As soon as the test ended, noise filled the room. The noise only had one thing attached to it, and that was despair. It seems like I wasn’t the only one who had difficulty with the test. Even Mark, the guy who ranked first in our first depex, was freaking out. I can only hope and pray for a passing score. No matter how low, as long as I pass, I’ll be ecstatic. By then, I’ll be able to totally relate to the line, “I think that I shall never see, a grade as lovely as a three.”

It was still raining by that time (around 8:15 p.m.), and it was very unlucky for me because none of my friends would be walking the same path I take every day. Also, Monica, one of my block mates who happen to live near Astral, didn’t have an umbrella with her. That left me with no choice but to just let the rain drench me.

When I got to Astral, I just walked straight to the elevator, pushed the ‘19’ button, and stared at my reflection on the mirrors as I waited for the elevator to reach the top.

When I got in, I called my Mom and told her about the test. She comforted me. And I love her for being oh-so caring and concerned even though I sounded like I had failed the test—badly.

When Bless arrived, it just took a gaze for me to convey what I was feeling. She freaked out, too. Turned out she was having a bad day as well. Hers was more unfortunate, though. As she was retelling her story about her room being locked when she was outside, Ken sent me a text message asking me, “Nakuha mo na?” I said, “Alin?” He replied, “Hindi sinabi sa’yo nung guard?” So I went to the lobby and asked the guard about it. And then he gave me this bouquet of flowers.

Instantly, all the misery and irritation I had for this day disappeared and got drowned by the flowers’ fragrance and beauty. I really love flowers. Receiving flowers makes me feel very special—and lady-like.

When I got back to the unit, Bless and Ate Lennie saw the bouquet. They both said the same thing, “Awwww.”

Immediately, I went to the living room and called Ken. I told him all about my day, and how badly it went. And at that instant, I turned from the most unlucky girl in the world to a girl who couldn’t ask for anything more.

So even though this day made me experience all sorts of misfortune, I am really thankful. It’s funny how someone can easily make your troubles go away and make you feel perfect without even trying. It’s one of the things I love about love. Or rather, one of the million things I love about love. Love is not something you find in books and can be solved using calculators or complex formulas. It’s something you feel, share, experience, and grow. It’s something personal. It’s unexplainable. Ask a hundred people about it, and you’ll get a hundred different answers. For me, it’s him. And I’m really glad that three years ago, I said ‘yes’ to this same person who completes my life and makes me feel that everything is right with the world.

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Happy 3^rd Anniversary, Ken. On this special day, I just want to say the words I’ve always found so easy to tell you. I love you.

I also want to send my heartfelt thanks to those who greeted me (or us). I love you guys as well. :)