Having survived two online writing techniques training makes a writer ask would the next activity be as difficult and as exciting as the previous training? Would it give us backaches and headaches at the end of the day? Or would it free us from taking paracetamol and a massage of Efficascent Oil at night?
Monday, March 15, 2010 was the first day of the three-day Writer’s Commitment Setting Workshop for the SUC writers from all over the country. Participants who are a mix of the Batch 1, called “the relics’, Batch 2, called “the remnants”, and the newcomers who have not passed the trainings of the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) arrived at the University Hotel (UH) of the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman, Quezon City. I was among the so-called “remnants”.
We had a great day knowing the newcomers, meeting the fellow “survivors”, talking about our respective iSchools projects, and recalling the adventures of the previous trainings. We then listened to our Resource Persons though most got occupied updating their Facebook, getting news on internet, the latest on YouTube and sending messages through emails. Again, I was among them.
At 7:30 in the evening after dinner, I was already in our room taking paracetamol for my aching back. That was just the first day. My roommates from Naga and Isabela went for a shop at SM Shoemart so I was alone in our room. I stretched my body to ease the pain of my back. I felt like drinking milk as I usually do when tired. I am one person who would volunteer to give up fruit juices in exchange for a glass of milk whether hot or cold, fresh or powdered. Having nobody to ask to accompany me out, I asked direction from the UH guard where to buy milk. He politely gave me direction but as I walked alone at the UP road to the campus grocery I seemed to lose direction since I still did not see the “many lights”. I asked an old woman I met along the dark road and she pointed out that the grocery store was past the UP Chapel.
My mind was filled with “what if’s”. What if a witch follows me on the dark road? What if I come across drunkards who will make fun of me? What if hold-uppers in the guise of helpful men stab me and take my valuables away? Are people here honest, polite and will not take advantage of a stranger like me? What if stray dogs bite me? I surely would not bear the pain of anti-rabies injection.
I was afraid but I followed the road to the grocery turning right as I approached the UP Chapel. A man on the left side of the grocery fell down from his parked motorcycle; the bystanders said he was drunk. I stopped by the pharmacy to buy my fresh milk and crying woman called the police station because a drunk man harassed her and her husband. Out of pity, the owner did not accept her P5.00 for the call. That increased my fear, suspecting that the man he meant was probably the one who fell down from the motorcycle. I hurriedly paid my bill, went out, and trod the same road that led me to UH. I was almost running looking left and right, my heart pumping fast, my hands clutching tightly the plastic bag with milk until I reached the UH. The security guard greeted me and I smiled back in response as if nothing happened.
Thank God I was safe! But most of all, I had my milk and was able to brisk-walk on my way back. A great way of cardio-vascular exercise! What a night!
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