Alas-Dose

(Note: As an assignment, we have to write a short story for Valentine’s Day. This is my entry to the contest. This is in Filipino because we’re required to write it in the said language.)

Suot ang aking puting kamisadentro at salawal, naglakad-lakad ako ng nakayapak sa aplaya habang pinapahid ng malamig na alon ang aking mga paa. Tanaw mula sa aking kinalalagyan ang dalawang tagak na tila’y naglalaro sa paligid ng parola habang pasikat naman ang araw sa kagiliran. Pumukaw sa aking pansin ang dalawang talangka sa maputing buhangin na parang magkasintahang naghahabulan sa dalampasigan kagaya ng eksena sa paborito kong pelikula, yun nga lang tagilid silang tumakbo. Sinundan ko sila kahit saan sila magpunta hanggang nakahanap sila ng hukay at doon na nagtago. Umupo na lang ako at pinagmasdan ang mga bankang naglalayag sa di kalayuan.

Stacking Up, Stacking Down

A stentorian ‘yes’ filled the room and every pair of eyes stared at me with curiosity. I replied them with a smile.

I yelled the word not because I got the highest score in our last long exam in accounting 22 nor I passed a transferee exam in a Quezon-City based university. The real reason, guys, was I registered a new personal record, as well as a new class record, in sport stacking.

The Greatest Problem of a Writer

(Note: I wrote this several months ago, the summer of 2009 if I’m not mistaken. Just wanted to share it with you.)

What should I write? That four-word question keeps reverberating inside my now-pitiable head and constantly nags me to search for answers. I already browsed several outdated respectable broadsheets, read examples from a school-owned journalism book, and scanned seventy-seven essays hoping that they will give light to an aspiring columnist. I even surfed the internet for possible topics. My search engine did its best and showed me hundreds of subject matters yet I rejected them because either they were passé or I don’t have enough knowledge about it. I also thought of the tactic I used to practice during my high school days – the “copy-paste method”/plagiarizing.