bac(k)olod

Bac(k)olod: back to where many things began...

Come October, the 10th Unigames would --once again-- be held in Bacolod. Hopefully, it's still in the University of St. La Salle (USLS), just like last year. As early as now, i'm looking forward to going to that place as if i'm someone who has never been there all my life and i'm eagerly going there like a lured tourist hypnotized by all the heard beauty of the place.

FYI, i go there every summer, for as long as i can remember in my 19 years of tumultuous existence.
And yet, knowing that i would go back there at that time of the year (for the second time to mark last year's moments) seems to fill me with a kind of anticipation that makes me look forward with new eyes (figuratively).

Now, what happened in Bacolod last year during the 9th Unigames coverage by the HF staff (tiff, xyl, purpz, ate dodith, and jp)?

• my first sports coverage, wherein i stood by the pool, wet feet below and wet head above (it was drizzling). notebook and pen in my hand, i was jotting down the tankers and their rankings that afternoon.
• my first sports articles for heraldo filipino... it was just so-so that time sportswriting, i mean. i was just thinking:im doing my job as an HF writer and not as a sportswriter
• my first experience of running in hiding from a viciously possessive suitor who's a medical professional and 8 years my senior. hehehe i remember that time like it was a scene fom an action movie. running, ducking and dodging here and there. hiding in one inconspicuous corner and the carefully peeking and looking around so cautiously as if my life depended on it. i was with ate dodith that time (i wonder how she is right now).
• my first time to have a real conversation with ate xyldrae. this was the time i found out how we had so many things in common and that we're speaking, thinking, and living life in the same spectrum of light and enlightenment.
• my first time to see dale after his motorcycle accident.
• my first time to get back with him after more than a year of separation and silence.
• my first time to go to his apartment and get myself drunk over rum and grape juice. that was also the first time i felt incomparably secure and peaceful alone with a guy whom i know understands me like no other.
• my first chance to meet a horde of athletes and think of them as mere jocks (and that was the first and last time, mind you).
• my first time to ever fully realize and discover for myself that my reason for a feel-good something to feel and live for