A Batch 75 Reunion ....... at Inday's

Belle Catajoy Eleazar is in town, and reserved last night for a night to touch base with the batch. Inday and Tony Dans were our gracious hosts and the mini-reunion was held at their home in New Manila.

Tony is into fishes (and turtles) and eels.  The eel was solo in the aquarium in the formal dining room, and there was one tank in the sala, and i thought the colors were lovely. I have to get the pictures from maybe Dale who was snapping away like mad (she already has the pics posted in her facebook so you can go look now).

Alice and Manny picked me up at work and helped me with my potluck share of fresh lumpia (Ubod, actually and i would never have thought that 25 pcs would be that heavy) and the Lims brought salmon (brought frozen from Canada) and cooked by Manny (delicious), and drinks (Manny said beer).  Alice said we might be the first to arrive, but i said i didnt think so. When we got to Inday's, Amihan was the first!  We were shortly followed by Dale, and Vee Dulay - who i havent seen since freshman college days in UP  They brought cake (from cakes2go). Peggy followed bringing a small bilao of pancit malabon.  Janet was next, and she brought chicken.  Mianne brought ice cream and gelato. Benita brought fish - grilled boneless bangus - abd Someone brought karekare, with bagoong.

Inday asked me if i cooked the ubod, and i said no because there was no time to cook (i had work)

then i lost track of the arrival sequence.  the guys mostly brought wine - and they mostly drank it as well.. the women mostly drank water and soda and coffee.

so, a short recount of the people

of course Inday and Tony, sibs Belle and Jiben, Alice and Manny, me,  Amihan, Dale and Vee, Mianne,  Peggy, Benita, Janet and Chito, Lito, Albert, Dode, Doy, and i hope i did not miss anyone ....

they all thought about Kay and Maristel who celebrated their birthday yesterday.

So here's the latest from Belle.  She's in IT, yes in Canada (i think it was Toronto), with Honda, handling legacy systems - an IBM mainframe so she was in DB2, etc. etc.  She has 5 kids, the eldest is 25, and the youngest is 12.  All single.

Inday's son just got married last weekend, and we saw the pics.  The pics were lovely, documenting lovely people!  Janet's youngest is now 18, just like Boboy's youngest, Juancho is now a 3rd year student in Sayans and nope, Boboy did not make it to this reunion, but he joined us at the wake of Drabacs.

So they brought up the debate again on when we had Russian literature at Sayans.  I maintain we had it during our 4th year - I was Pi-Meson, and we had Brothers Karamazov, written by Fyodor Doestoevsky.  They maintain it was during 2nd year, but second year i was in Champaca, and i dont remember 

I never had a classmate for the entire four years.  I was Neptune (Mrs. Evaline Gerochi), Champaca (ah.... who was our advisor?), Argon, then Pi-Meson.

standing (l-r) Jiben, Albert, Dode, Mianne, Pegs, Dale, Doy, Amihan, Benits, Manny, Alice, Janet, Chito, me

sitting (l-r) Lito, Tony, Inday, Belle, Vee

picture courtesy of Alice Sibal Lim

Pope John XXIII

Yesterday, PDI - or the Philippine Daily Inquirer - featured the canonization of two popes. John the XXIII and John Paul II.

As a  comment in the newspaper, which i shall attempt to reproduce here, i said i also thouight of him as my favorite.  When I was in Grade school - at the College of the Holy Spirit, our Reading book was "Wide, Wide World" - which was the end of a series ... Vistas (a reddish colored book) for Grade 5?, and Cavalcades (an orange colored book) for grade 6.  By the way, San Beda College had the same series, so my male cousins Dodo and Milo Angkaw used the same books as I did

If memory serves, this is where i saw a short lit piece that had :"John and John" as the title. Anyway, in this short item it said that when Jackie Kennedy was newly bereaved from President JFK and was visiting the Pope,  the Pope forgot protocol, and opened his arms and said "Jackie", and hugged her.

I thought that too, was the measure of the man behind the Pope.

******

Drabacs - Director Cleofe M. Bacungan - passed away 20 April 2014

Drabacs said goodbye to this existence last Easter Sunday, the 20th of April 2014.  Her wake was held at the Bacungan Hall at the Philippine Science High School, Agham Road, Diliman Quezon City.  Interment was last Friday, 25 April 2014.

Her wish was that donations be made to the PSHS Foundation instead of flowers.  However, a group of us - Alice Sibal Lim, Amihan Abueva, Benita Padilla, Caesar Octavius Parlade (Boboy), Joey Dumandan, and me  :) - took the view that this gracious lady should have flowers and i was tasked to get the flowers for our batch - batch 75.  we figured that donations to the foundation can come at another time (and besides, we had other classmates) - and the rest of the donations could be for the donation.

The rest of the group - who were not able to go with us to the wake Monday 21 April also gave for the flowers - Dale Amor Villamor, Jerry Obaldo, Kay Uichanco. The rest of the batchmates donations, whoever will be giving, willl go to the foundation - i guess. they can do so directly.

i digress.



The history of the Philippine Science High School is entwined with the life and dreams of Drabacs.  Part of this history is documented in the book, "Romancing the Gifted".  The tenacity of Drabacs in the creation of the school can be gleaned from one picture - one of her and then President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

A few of us - Sayans batch 75 have copies.  Every graduate should have one, and should read it.  Roselmo Doval-Santos, one of the wonderful writers of our batch wrote a piece in that book.  I dont know what in the world i was doing when all that was being done, but i should have volunteered to do or assist with the editorial work.

If the PSNAA is listening, they should either reissue an edited version of this or have something similar for the golden anniversary of the school.  IF they do so, i am volunteering to assist with the editorial and layouting or the work -

Many of our lives have been changed because of our high school life, and in so far as we can, we would like to pass it forward

PICTURES COURTESY OF THE LIMS

Fr. Ces

Kay and Doy

A wRite quote from Goodreads

If you have the words, there's always a chance that you'll find the way. 


Seamus Heaney
Irish poet and Nobel Prize-winner Seamus Heaney (born April 13, 1939) enjoys both critical acclaim and widespread popularity. By 2008, two-thirds of poetry books sold in the UK were by Heaney.

For me, there is something about the Irish .....they have pretty words

This Lent - something about Sin, from Goodreads

Sin ought to be something exquisite, my dear boy.

 

Émile Zola
French writer Emile Zola (born April 2, 1840) was friends with artists like Cezanne and Manet, who both made him the subject of paintings, but when he wrote a novel about the artists and their bohemian lifestyle, The Masterpiece, Cezanne broke off their friendship.

now, this makes me think.... what Sin is exquisite..... for me it seems to be over-eating.  Not much of a sinner these days.  Too lazy and the weather is too hot to encourage sin........

*laughs*