Abstractions

freedom?

A number is an abstract idea used in counting and measuring. Oops, I couldn’t think of a good enough opening idea that I copied one from Wikipedia! Nonetheless, there you have it – the dictionary definition of a “number.”

The idea may be abstract, but it is a rigid reality that our lives are further obscured by these abstractions. A simple walk through the corridors will expose us to conversations like “Pare, di ba kapag ‘yung number two i-divide mo by Avogadro’s number [ang given] makukuha mo na ang sagot?” or a few remarks like “Tol, tres ka raw sabi ng prof!” It gets worse: careers are made or lost depending on the final numbers that appear on a scoreboard, or the red markings on an exam sheet. Sometimes it gets cheesy: 143, you’re the only 1 in my life. Sometimes it’s just plain weird: adding a zero to a number will increase its value ten fold, but subtracting zero will do nothing. Sometimes numbers are useful, like for instance: I’m using a number of seemingly unrelated sentences to prove my single point. Umm, did I just type that? But hey, I got your attention, didn’t I? Now you know that numbers are an inescapable factor of our lives.

Now that that I’ve got some of you confused, and perhaps shrugged off some government officials, I could go on to my other points. The HSA or the Human Security Act has just been implemented. Oooh, good thing – I feel more secure already. But before anything else, let me introduce you to another abstract term, “terrorism.” Yeah, they’re the bad guys… they plant bombs, take hostages, and usually get shot by counter terrorists with m14a1 carbines (pronounced as car-beens, not carbayns…) However, based on the definition of a terrorist according to the HSA, A terrorist is a person who is: I quote: “sowing and creating a condition of widespread and extraordinary fear and panic among the populace, in order to coerce the government to give in to an unlawful demand.” No more bullies in school, yah? No more crooks, yah? No more ugly, fear-imposing beggars on the streets, yah? And after those guys are gone, what will the government catch next? If two is company, and three is a crowd… then no three people could walk together. They might be mistaken for a scary, government defying crowd. How I wish the term “terrorist” could be defined the way the way Counter-Strike used to define it way back when we were still playing the game as freshies.

Did I say freshies? I meant frosh. My bad. Strange the word may be, I was surprised to find out that it’s actually a word which exists in the dictionary. The word frosh is a shortening or an alteration of the word freshman, which basically means a first year student. I remember back then when were freshmen ourselves. School was very much different than it was now. It was a time when being five minutes late meant the end of the world. It was a time when we had to speak in English when talking to the professor. It was a time of innocence, ahem *OT* cough cough. I don’t remember joining the frosh week though. Sure there was a concert or two, but no booths, no food stalls, no job fair, no hundred seconds of fame. In a way, I envy today’s frosh. But I don’t envy the fact that the frosh week lacked preparation. I don’t envy the fact that the booths and the food stalls were the same ones that appeared last foundation day. I don’t envy the fact that that the hundred seconds of fame was staged under the midday sun. (Given the chance, I would rename it to “the hundred seconds of flame,” but that’s just me.) It’s not all that bad though, we did enjoy the slightly more expensive food, the fairground ambiance, and the fun decorations. Viva frosh! Welcome to Mapua.

Going back, what was I saying? Oh, yeah… beggars are terrorists and the frosh week was one hot (and sometimes rainy) event. But we shouldn’t let rain stop our parade, right? Let’s all be hard working, studios, law-abiding Mapuans and no law can stop us. We came to school to study, and that’s what we’ll do. Ahem ahem, I need to get rid of this sore throat.

I seem to have run out of fancy greetings so I’m keeping this short. Thanks to everyone who did work for the features and tech section. Without you, my job will be much, much harder than it already is. Thanks to Armand and Ninong, for showing me their columns before I even started to type mine. All I needed was the Inspiration, and you did great. To Yunisee, thanks for the food, thanks for the smiles, thanks for the music, and thank you for Niou. If work is the number one sleeping pill, you’re my number one caffeinated drink. Hehe. Thanks. And to everyone else, I would like to promote my blog: fregatta.blogspot.com… just come by and leave a tag. Much love to all. ^_^Y My email is still tnb.refresh@yahoo.com, in case you need to reach me.

** My latest column to be published (hopefully) next week