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                                                Just Like In High School...
                                                   (revised edition)



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Hmmmm....what was I doing in high school? I need to remember because my daughters are now in "it". I'd like to remain calm and be cool about it, but the thought kinda freaked me out...How was I then? Let me count back wards...



1990 to 1991...It was the years of the Gulf war: Iraq invades Kuwait, Contraceptive Implants was approved by FDA, the Mount Pinatubo erupts, the Soviet Union collapses, the FDA approved ddl AIDS treatment, the World Wide Web was available, and Princess Diana and Prince Charles split up.​

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When I entered high school, I was part of the class where all the “brightest” students merged, so that was kind of interesting. The university was like a big city to me, and my peers, looking at my dark brown skin, assumed that I am from the countryside and that we had cows and goats. But we didn't. Lol!

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It was in high school that I first learned about time management and multi-tasking. The homeworks I brought home during the elementary days could not compare to nights of multiple hours solving mathematical equations and scientific theories. The pressures of what to wear, getting into a diet and household chores proved to be sooo stressful. I learned to juggle all of that in a days work. The hardest part for me was realizing I am finally growing up and have to do all this work. (Huhuhu....If this is a dream, somebody wake me!!!!)​



High school was where I first SOCIALized...hehehe. Getting involved in clubs and other activities made it easier for me to know people. But, I wasn't much into making good first impressions. I never worried whether I would be left out at all or stay friends with the people I just met. And while drugs and alcohol were present in the middle of every party and social events, I did think twice. I was able to get a taste of the “fun”, although not much as seeing my friends crawling and getting wasted, the urge to fully live in it suddenly died out. What a sight! I never did drugs though - that's a hard limit for me.

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It was on those years that the social game sometimes gets so much out of proportion, almost everybody hang on to anything to fit in. On the upside though, high school was a lot more liberating. I had time to be myself and found friends that I like and like me back (of course, life would not be complete without the bullies, but screw m). Of course, I've been through those nights where I crammed for exams the following days, got passing (and failing) grades, and learned things for the sake of learning. Now, I don't even remember anything. With that, I've come to realized that people make many mistakes throughout their lifetime; some mistakes are clever ones and some are not so clever. That's why I try to go easy with myself, my babies and my life style. Because lessons sometimes takes a long time to learn and everyone has problems.​



High school years are great years of meeting amazing (and not sooo amazing) people and opportunity to learn a lot. I learned to value time management, multi-tasking, adhering to peer pressure and survived, and the importance of knowing the right information and the wrong ones. To myself, I've become a strong-willed person who thinks I can achieve anything through hard, hard, hard work. Otherwise, I can be pretty aspiring or I can be plain pretty (joke!). I can definitely struggle and bear pain, while looking forward to the eventual thrill of triumph. Today, I'm the girl who will take cold water if soda is not available, and still have fun sipping it. And just like high school, I am still on the learning curve of life --- and loving it!

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Hmmm...now that I remember, high school wasnt that bad after all. I can now breathe easy and have more faith on my babies. You go girls, make your Mama proud!​

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