The Gathering of Wits
Monday, September 28, 2009 8:15 PM /
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My thesis mates, Nix, Reg, Imman, Louie, Karl and Jessa are very talented individuals. I was very lucky to be in the group. Our study 2100 AD is a game where aliens and zombies attacked Earth and so a cyborg was created to defeat the enemies. We had decided to create something less violent, opting for 2D graphics instead of 3D. Be very very grateful citizens of the world for we had settled to develop a game which has no potential for mass destruction in reality; nothing to sell for the black market. N and R were mostly in charge on the game logic, while moi, J and K were on the graphics, L was on networking and Imman was our “audio master”.
So far so good. I haven’t fallen asleep during one of those long working hours. I didn’t complain about the temperature being hot, or how I miss my bed at home, or how the atmosphere was charged with deliberate strain. The guys were very serious about work. I think I was the only one who was thinking of. .NOTHING. I supposed I’m a natural when it comes to this, having spent most of my time daydreaming and sleeping. I feel guilty though, especially everytime when I ask Nix something cryptic I never heard of. He’s a sweet guy. He always answers my stupid questions without making me feel stupid. One I always talked to were Jessa, Karl and Imman. Karl and Imman are funny; J is sort of panicky which is sort of funny. Louie would appear he was resting, then after a couple of minutes he’s already sleeping. It takes all the fun to see your mate zonked off into dreamland first. Though not as fun as eating popcorns and pancit canton, and reading FHM and talking XXX stuffs (<-- we mostly do the latter when J’s asleep or not within hearing range).
On Sunday, it was - surprise, surprise! - Jessa’s 20th birthday. About fifteen minutes to midnight, I spoiled the surprise by greeting her first. It wasn’t my fault though, how was I to know Nix’ wall clock is advanced for fifteen f*ckn minutes?!
I remembered how we had celebrated my birthday on summer-they had surprised me with a candle blazing on a rice cake. It was cool, and I was touched. But it was also tacky. There were no drunk sessions or party popping noises, and the singing only lasted for a minute. I was determined to celebrate J’s birthday in a different approach. By afternoon, J and I went to go a little bit of shopping. Before heading to SM Delgado to help her pick some outfits she’ll need for Defense, we had gone first to my house to fetch my sister’s Shakey’s freebie card (buy 1 take 1 pizza!). Jessa forced me to wear the same shorts I had used last night because with all the activities up ahead, we were running out of time. She couldn’t dash into her boarding house to fetch another batch of clothes. And I, being a gentlemen and all that crap, assured her that she would not be the only one tonight who would stink.
After that, I hastily made some stupid excuse that I couldn’t go with her. When I got to Nix' apartment, I found those poor sods playing computer game. I couldn’t blame them; we were all stressed out. There wasn’t a single alcohol or some strayed stripper in the apartment to lift our beaten spirits. There was however a gun. On the computer. They were playing Call of Duty, bombing cities and killing enemies. The current mission was to kill one elusive sniper. Somehow it drew out the stress. Later I would be playing that game to kill hours of sleeplessness.
But now we were running out of time damm*t! I told them to puhleez prepare for the surprise party. I grabbed the two bottles of vodka we had bought and put them in the freezer. Nix told me they were going to buy more food. Thankgod, he must have realized that pizza and vodka couldn’t sustain us for dinner. He also added that I would be the one to cook the rice. What?!
Yep. Moi would be handling the cuisine tonight. And I would be cooking the famous Filipino dish: rice! I would be using uhmm..a rice cooker of course. BUT since there were many of us here I would also be using another pot.
Cook rice on a pot. Nix had mentioned the task casually but I was not a fool. This was payback time (so I thought) for leaving them. The only things I learned to cook on a pot are pancit canton, noodles, boiled egg, and popcorn. Anyway, it couldn’t be hard, could it? We have Gasul. I wouldn’t need to rub some sticks together to start a fire, would I? I would’t have to go outside and find a stick in the first place.
“Could you give me the directions please for the…pot,” I told Reg trying not to appear like an amateur chef. I’ve seen him cooked rice during one of our meetings. He gave me the directions and without preamble I begin to work as soon as they had left.
I kept on checking the pot to make sure it would turn out rice not lugaw. Karl wasn’t a big help. And also was Nadine, Nix sister.
Hello, can’t they see that I’m literally banging pots and pans here and making these rushing noises to imply that this is a matter of edible and inedible and so maybe you could puhleez check this? We could suffer some stomach illness if you didn’t know what I’m cooking!
Nadine walked outside past the kitchen. Karl was still busy playing the $#! sniping game.
Isn’t this interesting to see a guy cook? Aren’t they concerned about our dinner?!
Somehow, I managed to keep my sanity and cooking skills 
alert. Nagmato-mato na lang ko kag nagbanta-banta. By 7:30 PM, we settled for dinner with lechon manok, lumpia and my homemade rice (which fortunately did not turn into lugaw). The pizzas were just sitting on a corner, waiting to be devoured. An open invitation. The vodka on the other hand, is a different matter; I hid it in the freezer. Since I would have to go to Robinson and help some persons for Iloilo IFIT, I don’t want the guys to take a slug of pleasure without me. Call me selfish but this is what we thesis mates mostly do: we work together, we eat together, we sleep together (excluding J of course), but no, we do not take a bath together (coz I’m not comfortable about being naked in front of people). We would have to wait till midnight. Later on, I would be regretting this since I must not drink too much because I need to concentrate for work.
Labels: jumpy, ken chua, lifestyle, priority, school, strategic planning, thesis
0 Couldn't Keep His Mouth Shut
Ken Chua would no longer go underground unless the notorious Martial Law II is declared. He is partly convinced that all his pent-up thoughts are spilled in this account. 
