fishball tales

April 25, 2008 ~ Friday ~ 5:39 PM
Wishing Dinner’s Available

Ophelia,

Here’s a thought that crossed my head as I was trying to come up with a coherent plot for a story I’m currently working on. Somewhere in between thinking of a good super power for one of the main characters and wondering how my first chapter should go, the strange incident that took place two nights ago jumped into my head. Like oil leaping from a frying pan.

Realizing that I was hungry after nearly three hours of surfing at Alicia’s, I proceeded to the fishball stand near the parish. It was already dark and the street lamps were casting eerie splashes of artificial light on the streets, but I felt the need to eat something aside from dinner at the dorm. I ordered 20 pesos worth of fishballs and once that was taken care of, happily ate away while the stalls around me were closing. I was alone.

That was, until this tall guy in a white polo walked over to the fishball stand. Tearing my gaze away from the last few fishballs on my paper plate, I turned to look at the newcomer. To my shock and pseudo-horror, I saw myself standing face to face with my ex-Math teacher. Yes, the cute, twenty-something professor who I think didn’t like me much thanks to my guts. Not wanting to ignore him as I had been ignoring him for the past few months (besides, it would be too overtly rude to ignore him seeing that the distance between us was practically less than a meter), I inclined my head at him in an attempt at a polite bow.

He turned away. He ordered the same thing I did. 20 pesos worth of fishballs.

Heart thumping (whether from the shock of seeing him again or from the irritation caused by being ignored, I don’t know), I turned back to my paper plate of cooling fishballs and tried to munch away in peace. But it was difficult, and after a minute that seemed like hours, I grabbed my plate and walked away. Hmf.

The moral of this seemingly senseless story is… I’m not sure. It’s certainly proof that the world is a miniscule place and one often bumps into people one would rather not see. Not that I despise my teacher or anything; I mean, I totally deserved the 2.5 he gave me at the end of the first semester. It’s just that I don’t think he likes seeing me, and I definitely feel uncomfortable seeing him, so it’s better if we don’t see each other, noh?

Really, of all the people in the university that I could have bumped into at a fishball stall, I had to bump into my ex-professor. From Math 17, nonetheless. Quite a troubling thought, considering that the last time I was within a few meters radius away from him I made an utter fool of myself. Till now, I still cringe at the memory. Brrr.

She who was never good at dealing with teachers,
Beaple Leone Michaelmas

P.S. My first ever voice lesson occurred uneventfully. Aside from the slight mishap of forgetting my wallet when I had to pay for photocopy expenses, it was an okay experience. I have been assigned to study ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘Think of Me’ and ‘All I Ask of You’. Which really sucks ‘cause the sheets I have are for ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘All I Ask of You’ and ‘Music of the Night’. Misunderstanding rides into my life far too often. Bike and all.

P.S. Again. Speaking of bikes, I almost got run over by two of them as I was strolling around the Oval earlier. My head was floating somewhere far away. Apparently, they were in the moon, because one of the bike riders scoffed, “Para kang nasa buwan (As if you’re in the moon).” I laughed.

Toodles! Poof!