Nixxi | Tagline Unnecessary.

The overzealous folks at Ateneo scheduled November 3rd to be the start of classes for the second semester of the school year. But in truth, with late enrollees, adding and dropping, the holidays – school officially starts tomorrow. And in the eve of a staggering change, I wax poetic of the steps I have taken, both deliberate and unplanned, in order to bring myself here.

Any good story of redemption begins with a train wreck. Dumaguete has always been a safe haven, ask anyone who has been transplanted there. It is an idyllic town where they come as students at first, young and full of promise, and leave as educated adults. What they never fail to mention is the sense of being lulled into a bubble where everything is comfortable, easy and uncomplicated. Dumaguete is very easy to love but I remember resenting being sent there. After seeing what the city has to offer, a small town seems too cramped, too provincial.

But it grows on you, and what Dumaguete lacks in night life, shopping malls and pace, it more than makes up with charm and warmth and ease. My adult life has been spent shuffling between two cities that I love with fervent admiration equally. Not many can lay claim to have been influenced greatly by living in two cities, because one would always be relegated as the home town. But this fractured years that I have spent between these cities are nothing more than magnificent and cruel that I often feel torn.

I had every intention to come back in August but significant things were set in motion. I found myself extending and re-scheduling my flights twice before I gave up and realized that it was beyond my control. And all of a sudden, I was talking to friends about school and education and my future. Before I knew it, I was filing my reinstatement papers and enrolling.

Going back to school is tough. I’ve been employed for a long enough time to be comfortable with earning my own money. Having to go back to a student allowance is a challenge. But I’m getting old and I have to go somewhere with my life. I cannot go on with just existing and going from one post to the next. I owe it to myself to move and conquer my greatest hurdle – higher education.

Wish me luck and pray for me because the hardest things are yet to come.

Also, how great is Ceremonials? The new Florence and the Machine album. I can’t seem to get enough of it.

Ciao.