Dear friends,
Just before anything else, an update of my life.
Last Saturday is the birthday of a fellow brother here in the community. Happy Birthday! We celebrated with lots of buko salad (coconut salad), lechon (roasted pig), grilled bangus (milk fish), rice (of course), dinuguan (search it!), and some dishes I cannot recall. We invited the school administrators, novitiate community, and some friends for the dinner. I l lead the prayer (as usual) and our festive meal did not even last for two hours which is quite fast given it’s a Filipino birthday celebration.
I don’t usually drink alcohol but I joined the friends of my fellow brother because it’s his birthday. I saw them when I was going to the library where I was playing a computer game, an old modified map in Warcraft 3 with Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece characters in it. I think this year I am consuming lots of beer compared to the previous years of my life. Even my fellow brother, who happens to be our community superior, said that I might share in our young brothers assembly that I learned to drink alcohol from him. That was said in jest of course. The typhoon Karen even made way to Cotabato City with all it’s gustiness and rain that our drinking session outside the veranda was transferred to the library. It’s convenient that it’s just adjacent. So they, the visitors whom I know because they work here in the school, saw all my books, unreturned student activities, school supplies, school record, in the big table because I slowly turned the library into my personal office. That was not planned if only I have organizational skills to remove clutters. So here it’s obvious that I don’t have a table inside the faculty room due to some space constraints there. I have a table in the campus ministry office which I rarely use. So that’s why all of the clutters was there in the library table in full display to the visitors.
Since the computer was in the library, we turned it into our television by just tuning in to YouTube. We had a marathon of the 80’s music because that’s the generation of the visitors. As a 90’s kid, I barely knew the songs except for some. I know some of them because the songs were the pop songs during their time and it just so happened I’m familiar with them thanks to MTV. The good times lasted until 2:00 AM.
Of all the alcohol, I think I won’t be consuming hard drinks anymore and settle with beer or wine because with beer I can still think clear and not really that uninhibited and can still walk straight. With a strong liquor, I don’t think that would be wise for me. Maybe St. Thomas Aquinas would approve this beer indulgence of mine. Or probably not because his quote on Sorrow was misattributed. We have a weird prayer on blessing beer even to the point of calling it as a “creature”. I just saw that prayer somewhere. I am thinking of connecting beer to the Wedding Feast at Cana where Jesus turned water into wine. I lack the technical skills for explaining theological nuances so I’ll just leave this as it is. Besides, I don’t think there’s a need for it. Anyway, I just remembered them.
The next day, Sunday, I was originally planning to attend again a feast somewhere near here because the principal invited us during the personnel meeting last Wednesday. Hung over until 12 PM, I decided to scrap the plan since I just woke up before noon time. I attended the Sunday Mass at 11:15 AM because we have a meeting at 3 PM to vote for our representatives for the upcoming 22nd General Chapter. It was Game 4 of the PBA Finals and Ginebra won despite the uncalled travelling violation of Sol Mercado in the crucial last minutes.
Now, this week is the last week of the first semester before the break. I’m done with the students’ grades, lessons, lectures, and just waiting for the week to finish. This week, I gave my students a lantern making project with a Marian Theme because it’s the Rosary Month.
Next week will be our annual personnel retreat. I might again write some of my reflections during that time of prayer and rest.
Peace everyone! I’m out.
Br. Allen 