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by Philipina A. Marcelo
The past week has been one of those times when it felt like some nice angels trying to overcome boredom on the clouds took notice of me - after a few months of neglect, and decided to wink at my lucky stars... blowing a breath of truly refreshing air in my direction. It felt like I was rained on by the proverbial magic dust... it was a lovely feeling - it more than made up for the months of neglect! :)
Last Monday, my senior research students got back from their weekend recollection held at the Dominican Retreat House. Nestled among the breathtaking hills of Caleruega in Nasugbu, Batangas, the House was both serene and beautiful, the students loved it there. They brought me presents from their trip, which caught me "emotionally unprepared". :) After my lectures in the morning, I was ready to spend
the whole afternoon holed up in my office at the Research Complex. I wasn't expecting my research students for I knew that they were coming back that day, and therefore, may need to take the day off from school. I was surprised when they came into the lab quietly in the afternoon and went about their work... and then just before they left in the early evening, they knocked on my door and handed me my presents: a lovely little plaster sculpture of St. Dominic, a box of my favorite cashew tarts, and a box of cashew polvoron. I accepted the presents with my mouth open... and a tentative, "thanks, guys" - I was lost for words. After a few minutes of staring at the presents, I realized that they came with letters... I read the letters, and that's where the emotional unpreparedness manifested itself by the gentle tugging at the heart... a pure but subtle energy that almost condensed to tears. All I could see were thank you's - lots of them... they swam in front of my eyes, in my head... and in my heart. Surprisingly, while it felt as delicious as drinking a fine Italian wine, it wasn't intoxicating... it felt rather calming - blissful!***
Tuesday and Wednesday lightly went by in a breeze... no complications. I felt like both days were made for serene existence - just being in harmony with what each second brought. It felt like a fluid dance where the body merely went with the flow of music, like it had a mind of its own, like both were meant for each other. And, I glided, and swayed, and twirled - allowed myself to be swept away... paused to catch my breath... and went again - and again! Ah, delicious! :)
Thursday was special in that one group of my research students and I finally found what we were looking for in our work!! Our
ploy, care of father Science, to cajole Mother Nature with a slew of relentless and methodical trials to reveal another one of her secrets to us paid off... she softened, and she spilled the beans! Hurray! :) And then, as if the angels were delighted by my squeal of excitement, they seemed to turn up the magical dust flow... somebody sent me an e-mail. Every word and punctuation in the e-mail, and especially the professional position of the sender - all of it made up a promising research-related partnership in the offing. Sweet! :)Friday was heaven! In the morning and early afternoon, I gave lectures on my favorite engineering topic these days - flux modeling and process design in Membrane Technology. It went very well.... I thought I knew how much I loved discussing the topic, but even I was taken by surprise by just how "crazed" I was with it - I got completely lost in the lecture myself. I felt like I was going to burst in the seams... I needed several horsepower of sheer will to restrain myself from gushing! =) I lectured with brute force until I was blue in the face! I think that the students were close to clapping after the two-hour lecture... but they seemed to realize clapping would be weird in a regular class lecture - I would think the same, actually, even if the thought was delicious. :)
***
Friday evening was a Wonderland... just because it involved the (sizzling) hot John Mayer! A sister, three nieces, a friend and I went to see "John Mayer Live in Manila 10.01.10" at the
Mall of Asia Concert Grounds. The venue was open-air... and it was raining - cats and dogs! Undeterred by rain, we went and sang the night away with the fabulous John Mayer... talk about delicious! =) We had reasons to celebrate, too... it was a belated birthday celebration for one niece, a first job celebration for another, and a belated "congratulations" celebration for another who just passed the Nurse Licensure Examination - in one try, of course! :) So it was a good time to let our hair down and enjoy the music of one talented musician who came to perform in Manila - for the first time. John Mayer was amazing... we had so much fun singing with him, and dancing to a number of his songs - in the rain! He treated his Manila fans with his "Room for
Squares" songs, some with new arrangements and updated vocals, peppered with impressive guitar solos. His voice was husky, low, and "quiet"... even when he's all a-rockin' and fired-up - totally S.E.X.Y. Of course, the enthusiastic crowd was wowed... and they screamed, howled and twirled in the gushing rain! :) My personal favorites were "Love Song for No One", which he sang beautifully, and "Why Georgia" where he reiterated his hypothesis on "quarter-life crisis"... it's amazing how the emotional chaos in the lyrics could send shivers down one's spine - deliciously - by the carress of his voice... *gasp*... but, of course, just like everyone else, I died a little bit with "Your Body is a Wonderland" - colossally romantic and, oh, so sexy! Whew! :) It was great to hear him do a cover of Journey's "Don't Stop Believing" as well... 
adding the John Mayer touch - new arrangement a la "Neon", complete with his signature drawl, titillating discreet moan (oy!), and awesome guitar playing - whew, hot! So, that was probably why it was raining - some cooling effect was (badly) needed! ;) It looked like even the angels were pleased by JM that the rain stopped and let us enjoyed the last five or six songs with our umbrellas folded... the air all tasted of JM's music - and it was sweet and delicious!We got hungry after expending tons of energy to contain the electrifying performance of John Mayer. So, we capped the night feasting on a really classic Pinoy treat - lugaw, in
... well, where else but in Lugawan Republic at Tomas Morato! =) I wanted to keep it "pure and simple", so I ordered a "basic" lugaw while everyone else got adventurous and ordered the more intricate variants. We also shared two servings of the mouthwatering tokwa't baboy while we viewed our photos and videos from the concert, laughing at each other like mad and eating like there wasn't enough lugaw in the world. :) We parted ways at the Lugawan... and made plans for another escapade con bonding soon. Needless to say, we went home all satisfied... wonderful experience - concert in the rain, great bonding time, celebrating milestones in my young nieces' lives with great music in the background, and belly-satisfied as well. Delicious!***
Careful not to wake the village, I restrained myself from belting out "Love Song for No One" and tiptoed to my room from the JM Concert. Mindful of my "date" with former students the next day... well, on the same day, actually 'cause I got home
after midnight, I went to bed trying to imagine what the mini reunion would be like. In the morning, staggering to the kitchen to fix myself my morning "shots" of coffee, I almost squealed at the sight of my "wooden finds" in the TV/living room - from my bargain hunt with my sisters two weeks ago! The shiny hardwood center table with laminated drawers greeted me with a truly smug artsy elegance... and I made a double take and wheeled towards it! :) I shook my head to think about how it got there... and remembered that the day before was the end of the 10-working day wait until its delivery. Aww, wow! And then, I remembered, I purchased one more... I turned, and there it was - my wooden console table! It wasn't as smug as the center table... but it stood with quiet and classic elegance, too. I turned to grab the little table-top pieces of decor I picked up here and there
while I waited for the new furnitures to arrive, and tried them on the center and console tables. The kind angels seemed to be paying attention to what I was doing, and what it did to my mood... the morning sun peeked through the windows to touch the top of the center table, and it shone beautifully - I was dazzled, it made me giggle! :) Suddenly, there was a surge of delicious energy that almost cancelled out my need for morning caffeine and I bounced around. I went about eating breakfast and listening to the morning news, admiring my "bargain finds" at the same time... as if the fresh memories of the JM concert the night before wasn't enough to bring smile to my lips. I was so happy, it made me look forward to my "date" with great anticipation! ***
Aah, Saturday!
After fulfilling a "daughter's duty", I raced to the University to attend my senior students' "Career Talk" Seminar. The speaker was my former student and thesis advisee who currently holds an intimidating position - regional level (Asia-Pacific) - in a giant multinational that is known for innovation and excellence... and she's married with two kids... and is only 35!
The moment I saw her... with her whole family in tow, towering waves of emotions hit me - joy, pride, longing, excitement, thankfulness... I floated with glee! She gave
a really engaging career talk, simply because she's spoken on a very personal note... chronicling her journey to where she is now, learning very good lessons from every experience, and using all the lessons learned to move to the next phase of her career - better and wiser each time. The students and I were completely absorbed... deliciously awed! From a teacher's perspective, it was beautiful to watch her showing my current students how her present could be their very future... and I was surrounded by the delicious air of meaningful success! She made me feel how the past 21 years of committing myself to my profession was so worth it!She went on to interact with the students until her family came back to remind her of the "real reason" why they were there - my ice cream date with the kids. :) I promised to treat her little girl to a cone of ice cream in the campus after getting one of the highest grades in her class in the second quarter... and her little boy for the wonderful progress he was making in his school, too. Her husband, who is making waves in his workplace as well, is also a former student of mine... in fact, they worked together in their undergraduate thesis, and I stood as their adviser together with a colleague. I was very young and extremely
aggressive back then, and they matched my every step, my every leap as I sprinted tirelessly to accomplish as much as I could as the Laboratory Supervisor of my Department. Together, we made up the very young and productive group of Thomasians who had nothing else in mind but to make a difference for our Alma Mater in terms of modernizing our Laboratory facilities and programs... and we're successful, too! :) Working with them back then, I saw how they grew and matured to be promising engineers... I saw them get married and build their home a few years after graduation. Now, after several years, I was overjoyed to see them fulfill the promise I saw in them when they were still students - even surpassing them so impressively! But even more gratifying was the fact that they turned out to be very good parents... their lovely kids bounced around them cheerfully with a great sense of security in the warmth of their parents' nurturing affection. Obviously, they are very well reared and thoroughly loved lucky little souls. Ah, the air tasted of the most delicious flavor of love! And, yeah, our ice cream date was a success - yum!
***
Compliments to "The Chef"!
I had an extra-special week, and therefore, I went to give thanks - extra-special way, too - to The One who prepared a sumptuous week-long menu and put those angels on a cook out mission! Rather than hearing mass in our Village church - a few meters away from our place, I went with a sister to hear mass in the Sto. Domingo church, about 10 km from our place. I offered prayers and lit candles for my current and past students, for my loved ones, and for my angels and myself. As I watched the smoke rose to the clouds... I found myself wishing that the angels turn them into magic dust once again. ;)
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Hmmm, those kind angels must be giggling happily on that cottony and delicious Cloud 9. I just knew it... 'cause I was! :)
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