Terrific Trio

In many TV shows that I watch, there is also a trio of main characters that seem to work well together, a couple and a third person...

White Collar:
Peter and Elizabeth Burke
Neal Caffrey

How I Met Your Mother:
Marshall Eriksen and Lily Alden
Ted Mosby

Chuck:
Chuck and Sarah Bartowski
John Casey

Raising Hope:
Burt and Virginia Chance
Jimmy Chance

Fringe:
Peter Bishop and Olivia Dunham
Walter Bishop

We have always been a trio of friends, in college from our sophomore days when all our adventures began. We have been through so much, from experiencing college together, same classes and all, to causing chaos within school grounds. However, it has been decided that our company should [temporarily] come to an end.

We cling to our own point of view, as though everything depended on it. Yet our opinions have no permanence; like autumn and winter, they gradually pass away. -Zhuangzi

As much as I'd like to believe that in this life, our trio would never have to change, it already happened. We would have never thought that it would come down to this. For three of us to be fighting against the system... And as things grow worse, I'd like to say a few things.

It has been more than four years since we met, seated side by side in that second floor classroom in Berchmans hall. When the three of us were seated in the same room, at the same time, listening to the same person be a bitch. At that point in time, it probably never crossed our mind that life would turn out like this after all these years.

I never considered you as just a friend, our trio has been more of a family the past few years, and through thick and thin, we've always stuck by each other. It's sad that we have to stand side by side, but miles away from this point on. However, this is just another obstacle in the way of accomplishing what we truly need to. Our bond was never meant to end like this; we are not going to go gentle in to that good night. Our trio will live on. And no matter what it takes, Martin Lam will find his way around here.

Family

Though incomplete, this is my family.

Five children. One by association.

You don't choose your family. They are God's gift to you, as you are to them. -Desmond Tutu

God willed U1-2011 and O4-2012 be under my supervision. And God blessed me with them.

Though not all became TNT, though I didn't become close with every one of them, though some of them might see me as just another memory in their freshman year, these people are family.

I don't need a long blog post to express how much these people mean to me. They know how much I love them. And I can feel how much they love me. I am thankful for these people.

Marc
JO
Earon
Rich
Hanna

Toni

I hope that in a year this small family can grow a little bit more.

A Happy Ending

"If you want a happy ending, that depends, of course, on where you stop your story." -Orson Wells (quoted by Neal Caffrey)

I walked away from OrSem last year with tears in my eyes, but a smile on my face, knowing that I gave everything that I could have given to the first and last groups of freshmen I handled. Everytime that I stepped on covered courts cement, I know that everything changes, it means business, but fun business. Being a TNT is unlike anything I could have ever imagined doing. I loved the work and I worked because I loved it.

I remember my humble beginnings, I remember Macky del Rosario writing my name on the sign-up sheet. That solidified my claim to be TNT. I was having second thoughts, but when I saw my name written on the sheet, I knew that I was going to stick with it. I don't remember much of anything after that, but I remember certain bits of memories from all my TNT experiences.

I was TNT for two years. I handled two blocks, took care of 44 freshmen (5 of whom became TNT too). 5 kids. Four from my newbie year (Marc, Rich, JO and Earon) and one from my senior year (Hanna). But the story doesn't end with handling these two blocks. As happy an ending that was, it still is incomplete.

I've decided to stop the story when I see how these kids will grow up. And after a couple of years, they already have, and they have so much more to grow. However, seeing that these five have grown into a special family, way better than they can ever imagine, has created a better ending to my story.

Sige na, tawagin na akong "Can't Let Go." But I can't let go for a reason. If you had a kid, would you stop watching her/him grow once s/he can stand on her/his own. NO.

I have yet to see these five people grow in to the people they want to be. And my happy ending has yet to come, not until the last of O4 and U1 leave the Alma Mater I've called home for sixteen years. I'm happy as it is, but I know for a fact that the ending will be so much better a few chapters from now.

And I've decided the perfect moment where to end this story: in 2017, at the graduation of O4 and U1. Where their stories have to take sharp turns into a page called reality.