Metal Is In!

After many serious, nose-bleeding posts, let’s have a break shall we? It’s not advisable to drown readers with super wordy writings in a blog so today is a good day.. I’m gonna take a look at the brighter side of things.

I’m gonna give you some insights about a very very interesting topic: BRACES.

So for the past 2 months, I’ve been living with this metallic device stuck on my upper and lower teeth [ which surprisingly does not rust in my saliva! Amazing, isn’t it?]. When I was younger and braces were sooo in, I’d make my own improvised braces using aluminum foil. There was also one time when I desperately bended paper clips and tried to put them on my teeth as if they were retainers. I don’t know why but back then, I just loved those thingies on people’s teeth. Braces were status symbols back then.. so I guess at my young age, I was a coño! LOL! [Don’t know what a coño is? My goosh! How luma naman your vocabulary!]

Now that I actually have braces, I’m not as ecstatic as I am supposed to be [considering how desperate I was to have braces before]. I have braces because I have seemingly crooked, bug’s bunny teeth, not because I’m still that little coño I suppose I was before. Hahaha! I guess when you finally have that something you’ve been dying to have, you start feeling more and more less satisfied.

But hands down, having braces is a whole new experience. Here are new things I encountered that came with these new thingies on my teeth:

• Every time I eat rice, I only chew half of what I swallow. The rest get stuck in-between the brackets of the braces. Some get stuck with the wire. So this meant.. less chewing! Yaay!
  
• When I eat bread, the chewed form of it [or what we scientifically call as bolus] gets stuck again with the braces. Such a fun, disgusting thing! Believe me, you don’t want to let me smile when I eat!
  
• I don’t normally use tooth pick after meals. But now, I keep a mirror and a toothpick handy at all times.


• Having braces gave me that new distinct smile. When I smile, it has to be all out like a super smile wherein the braces really become visible. So when I pose for a picture, I resemble a shark! Arararararr! Sharkbait uhaha!
  
• I have to cut every single thing I eat into bits and pieces because I can’t bite.
  
• I always found my single colored teeth to be dull and lifeless. But with braces, my teeth became colorful and funkeh!
  

Becoming a metalmouth is something you should experience once in your life. You’ll learn valuable life lessons which you can only learn in those 2 or so years of your life spent with braces. After living with braces for barely 60 days, here are what I’ve learned:

• The art of mouth opening. When these metals had to be installed on my teeth, I had to open my mouth [without support!] for a total of 4 hours! Because of that, I have mastered the art of opening my mouth. Every angle of my lips, every corner of my mouth, every twist of my tongue, I’ve learned ‘em all.
  
• The virtue of patience. Patience really is a must for someone having braces. Just imagine lying there in your dentist’s clinic with your mouth open for four hours, without even a recess or bathroom break! More than a pound of patience was needed to survive that!
  
• Discipline and self-control. Hard, sticky and uber sweet foods aren’t allowed for someone having braces. Now, who couldn’t resist that crispy bag of Lay’s? Or that frozen chocolate covered caramel bar? But for a metalmouth, NO is the answer for those cries of the stomach.
  

The only downside of these braces is its effect on the way I talk. If you know me personally, you can attest that I am a speaker. I love talking! But these braces seem to cause a disturbance when I speak. I’m kinda anxious since I’m starting College in a month and a half and my course is all about communication [Communication and Media Studies] but I’m still having those natural speech effects that come along with having braces [ you pronounce s as th].

But all in all, braces are fun! I don’t know if other bracefaces out there appreciate braces the way I do. Maybe I’m just mababaw ang kaligayahan. I guess I have to love these metals on my teeth for one simple reason: I’m stuck with ‘em for the next 24 months of my life!

Is UP Life For Me?

Exactly one week ago, I went to the place I call as "Somewhere Else". I went to Ilo-Ilo with my sister Andrea who is currently taking up her bachelor's degree in the same university, UP- Visayas.

It will be a boring read for you guys if I tell here all the mishaps we've been through. So I'm going to spare you the pain and make a summary.. simply because I love you [and I dont like boring people to death!].


Okay.. I've never been into a trip as troublesome as my trip to UP-Visayas. I went there with incomplete entrance credentials to be passed to the Registrar[which was the sole purpose why we went there in the first place]. So my sister and I had to go back and forth,like a hundred times, from building to building. And take note: we had to ride a tricycle [which inconsiderately charged a pricey fare] from building to building!


And the pila was sooo long so we had to spend 2 nights in the dorm. The worse part is, we didn't have sufficient clothes with us! Believe me, I wore the same jeans for three straight days! And my sister had to sleep in her undies! Hahaha! So funny! We ended up buying boy shirts in the banwa [like a small city]. Why boy shirts? Because the female shirts they were selling were so baduy and buki [out-of-date]!


Oh, and haven't I told you that I lost my high school card [which was uber important!] while we were strolling in the streets of Miagao? Men! Good thing we traced the way we've been through and found it! My sister and I were also running out of moolah. Everything was unexpected that my sister didn't bring her ATM. But thanks to some helpful people [yes.. there are really good-hearted people left on this planet] we managed to survive.

So there, we went home to Bacolod wearing boy clothes and a pocketful of memorable misfortunes.

Most of you might think that because of all the hindrances I've met, studying in UP aint for me. You might think I'm jinxed. Well at first I think so too. Sometimes, I doubt if I made the right decision of moving to another place away from home.But I realized that hello? I survived all those obstacles! Even if a thousand barriers came my way, here I am.. still clinging to my hope of having a new life somewhere else. Surviving those hindrances makes me even more confident that it is God's will for me to study in UP. I know I must starve these doubts of mine.


I have to tell you though, life there is so different from the life I am comfortable with. But this is the time for me to receive change. Nobody said that achieving what I want will be as easy as 1 2 3. Sacrifice is a part of aiming for a higher goal.

Somewhere Else

When I was on the verge of graduating and was thinking over the real life that is about to begin after high school, I promised myself that I would study in a prestigious university and leave my hometown ,Bacolod, and start over with a clean slate.

My goal was to move from Bacolod as far as possible that’s why I really really wanted to go to UP Diliman. Besides that, we all know that UP Diliman is among the greatest universities in the country. But most of the time, my plans aren’t parallel to Father God’s plans, so I ended up in UP Ilo-Ilo instead.

I wallowed for a while and eventually accepted what He has in store for me. But I have to tell you, a lot of tears were shed along that process of acceptance.

So now, one out of the two things that I promised myself is fulfilled. I’m going to an excellent school for college. This leaves me one more thing to fulfill : starting over with a clean slate as I bid goodbye to Bacolod.

You might think that I wanting to start all over is brought about by a bitter history and unpleasant memories. Well, not exactly. The truth is I am actually not quite sure of why I want it so bad to leave Bacolod City and go back to square one in a different place. I have sweet and beautiful memories here in Bacolod. This is where I first saw sunlight, learned my alphabet and 1 2 3’s, and discovered the many faces of life. The 16 years that I have lived in Bacolod had been great, wonderful years. It is in this place where I met beautiful people who later on became teachers of life’s hardest lessons, and where I became brave enough to make my own identity. Yet, why do I want to leave the place where I grew up?.. The place where I took my first breath?

After much thinking, I’ve realized important matters about my life here in Bacolod. I enjoyed living here and being with its people during those 16 years, but somehow, as days pass by, I am starting to get choked. I can’t fully explain it. This place and these people seem to become hostile to me. The beautiful people I’ve met who taught me life’s hardest lessons seem to have become the ones who make my life hard. This place where I became brave seems to turn me back into a coward.

Yes, I enjoyed and loved the people and this place during those 16 years which I lived in Bacolod. But it is not a matter of the past. It is a matter of the present. And at present, I am not enjoying and loving life in Bacolod as I did in the yesterdays. I’m not making sweet memories anymore, only bitter ones. I think this place is getting smaller and smaller and I am being caught in the middle. The people here are becoming more and more like the kind of people I just can’t seem to bear with.

I am starting to believe that I am not meant to be here, to be in Bacolod. My life is not meant to be spent in this place. I’m starting to think that most [but not all] of the people I allowed to walk through my life are simply going to pass by like a wind without even leaving a mark.

The truth is, I am not happy anymore. I can’t seem to find sincere happiness here in Bacolod and its people. There is just something I can’t seem to find in this place. As my real life is only beginning, I am going to find that something that is missing somewhere else..

Yes, maybe somewhere ese, I might find it.