DL semester as notes payable

Again I stare, not knowing what to write.

Grades-wise, I should be happy! And I am! *laughs* I just managed to get myself on the DL. Whew. Thanks to a wonderfully ended semester with Sir Darwin and his kind kind revised grading system and the fairly easy fourth long test. Thanks to Sir Bayot for awarding me an A and for all the bonus points without which I would not have made the 95 needed for the first letter of the alphabet we want so much to see on our grade sheets. Admittedly, I skipped around SEC when I saw that A in Eco. *sheepish smile*

On the flipside, no thanks to my Filipino teacher who did not give Kevs his well-deserved grade, and did not let me slip by with a B when I was sooooo close. Of all the times to get a C+ in Filipino, it had to be the very last one. I always managed to squeeze by with a B. First with Capino in Fil 11, and then with our pare, Mikael in Fil 12. Now, well, our teacher just broke my Filipino B streak. I can only breathe a sigh of relief that all my other subjects seemed to fit in just right for the DL combination.

Why so desperate for that DL? Well... it's a stupid story, really. Back in the day when Math was an easy thing, back in the day when my study habits had not yet started their steady decline, back when I was so scared of college life that I'd wake up in the morning earlier before classes just to go through my notes again, well basically, back in the first semester of my first year in Ateneo. (What an introduction, I just had to make you all dizzy.) Where was I? (See, even I got lost. But then again, I always can't seem to remember what I want to say!) Ah yes, I got onto the DL without much hoopla. Somehow, it didn't seem like too much stress, or too much work. Compared to what I put in today, that semester was well, forgive me for sounding full of air, but it felt effortless.

Because it felt so effortless, I didn't think that getting on the DL was such a biggie. I guess that's the mistake of having been blessed so early on, you tend to take it for granted. So when there was a DL ceremony, I completely shrugged it off. I didn't even tell my parents about it. Needless to say, I didn't go and I just got the merit card from Bellarmine Hall one day when I had the time. The "trouble" started when my mom got to talk to an officemate of hers who happened to have a son in Ateneo. That officemate of hers started talking about her son and how she went to this ceremony for Dean's Listers. My mom stood there with a quizzical look, knowing that I got on the DL, and yet not knowing anything about this event that to me, seemed merely a place for parents to show off their roosters (i.e. us). She stood there with a muscle smile, gears churning in her head, a big question starting to form at the back of her mind.

At the dinner table, as I innocently put a spoonful of rice into my mouth, she started with her story. She looked at me at the end of it accusingly and said "I looked stupid there not knowing what this ceremony was all about with a horrifying realization that my daughter did not tell me anything. I would have wanted to go!" (Of course, she said all this in Chinese, which made it sound even more oh-no-inducing.) And of course, I didn't tell her why I never mentioned the ceremony to her and decided for myself that I didn't want to go. She would never have understood that, heck, even I think myself a little stupid now too. I mean really, when else could I have gotten on the DL? So she tells me, "You shouldn't have decided not going for yourself! We're part of that decision..." she paused and continued, "You owe me another DL semester so I can go to this ceremony. I'm holding this over you." *big gulp*

The next two semesters after that glorious first semester were clouded with disappointment. Finally, the so-called bengga semester came along. As Nati would say (in that way only she can,) "This is it!" I quickly realized it wasn't going to be such a smooth-sailing ride after all. Piles and piles of papers and handouts started providing carpet cover to our little blue study room. Accounting got me sad for a night or two. Filipino got me biting my fingernails each time we had a long quiz/test. Eco, at least for the first part of the semester, had me straining my already weak hearing to catch Sir's lectures and occasional emotion-filled muras. But thankfully, everything DID fall into place, (save for Filipino) everything that needed falling into place anyway. Praise the lords, alleluia, I have just paid off my life's biggest "notes payable!"

One more time, let's hear that sigh of relief. *whew* My mom better not expect anything after this! *laughs* Nah, of course, for personal satisfaction, I want another DL semester. Let's see when I can manage to scrape another one by.