school supplies

I spent a good deal of my life (so far) as a student, and if I gather all the school supplies that I've used through the years, well, I can't even imagine how big that mound would be. I would like to mention them all, or perhaps, a good deal of them, which would demonstrate my writing style, but I don't feel like it. However, I have some thoughts about these school supplies.

1. The liquid eraser. Aka liquid eradicator, white-out, correction fluid. I seldom use this. I often just make a messy clump of lines to hide my errors. Fortunately, in college lab classes, these are prohibited. Corrections in data gathered must be made with drawing a line over the data one wishes to replace with another. The reason why I did not use this item is that I did not actually own one. I did not think of ever needing it. Also, I am impatient and would write on the still wet surface, making a mess. The lack of training on using the liquid also disabled me to make a neat painting when its use is badly needed. Anyways, I always wondered why they won't make other colors of this liquid. How about yellow for yellow pads, post its and Manila paper? Or blue, green or orange for rainbow pads? Brown for envelopes? It's like we don't make mistakes when writing on the mentioned media. Winning idea? Maybe.

2. The pencil. Truth be told. I never trusted the pencil which uses bullet-like things made of plastic that hold the lead. And you pull out the spent "bullet" from the tip and push it in the rear to push the new "bullet" to the tip. And I never saw the need for a mechanical pencil until ES 1 days (but still, I didn't use one). It was always the wooden varieties. The numbered ones. And I never, ever knew what those numbers meant. Something hard or soft, but I didn't know which is which. All I know is H is lighter and HB is darker. The other letters puzzle me.

3. The ballpen. Ask my high school classmates which person always did not have a ballpen. Obviously, that's me. Ballpens are hard to keep. But amazingly, I kept most ballpens in college. Maybe a bit of strategizing helped. I see to it that I have back-ups, especially when a pen is expected to screw up. Those cheap one-use kinds. These pen companies totally ripped me off.

4. Pencil case. I did not have those cases with buttons and levers and amazing stuff. I had the old person case that has a zipper and just holds all the pens and pencils and stuff that can fit in it. I envied my classmates (this was in grade school) because they have such pencil cases that do other stuff as well. However, at this point, I am now wiser and less shallow, I think that these fancy pencil cases are actually detrimental to learning. Children can be distracted by these 'toys'. I may sound like an old, bitter bat, but when you come to think of it, these cases are another way that companies use to rip us off. A basic box-shaped case with a good design will suffice. No need for a mini-chemical plant inside your pencil case.

5. Pad paper. I am glad that my parents saw the need of ruled pad paper in my pursuit of academic excellence (snort). Late in high school, I only bought a pad of intermediate pad and chopped it down as the need arises. Different teachers have different tastes, you see. Some require a whole sheet for homeworks, half crosswise for a short essay, half lengthwise for a comprehensive quiz, one-fourth for short quizzes. Some still want one-eighth crosswise* for really short quizzes (mention: Ginang Guevarra in Filipino) and one-eight lengthwise* for those multiple choice questions or those that required one to three-digit answers (mention: Sir Obsequio in Trigo and his 20-second quizzes). Fortunately, they do not require more obscure fractions such as 5/17th of a sheet.
*One-eighth sheet is made by getting half of the one-fourth size. The one-fourth size is made by taking half crosswise/lengthwise of a half lengthwise/crosswise. But of course you already know that.

6. Crayons. My parents (mainly Mama, Papa does not like to meddle with shopping, in any kind, except hardware items) were sane enough to buy me a maximum of 24 crayons. Imagine, if I was like that kid in our class that had a bazillion crayons, then art class would have to be as long as five periods. Let's say I wanted to color a car and I wanted it to be yellow. If I had my 8-crayon box then I'd pick up yellow and do it in a couple of minutes. If I have the 16-box, then I'd choose between yellow or yellow orange. But a bazillion colors? I'd have yellow, yellow orange, marigold, etc. See, I don't have much knowledge on the actual names of colors that are yellowish since I did not have crayons of their color. Anyway, with a variety of colors, I would take long on deciding which color to use. But then, it would widen my horizons, color-wise. Now, as an engineer, I am contented with the 24-box.

I know that this is all random but I live in a house with five kids going to school. And between the five of them, there is a large amount of varied school supplies. I just felt nostalgic and thought about my schooling years.

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Oh no they didn't! I went to the NBI office in Muntinlupa today to claim my clearance which I filed last Wednesday, but alas! They told me that I should call tomorrow to check on my clearance. I was a 'hit' meaning there is another person in these 7107, more or less, islands that has the same name as mine. They stamped my receipt with June 24, meaning I can claim mine today. But no. Apparently they 'forgot' that today is Manila Day and the Carriedo office is closed. I woke up early for this since the NBI person told be to come around 8 am today. Crap.

I also filed for my SSS number today. It turned out to be quite fast, which worried me. I could have missed a step.

Turns out, due to the presence of some ear blockage, I will not be able to start working on July 1. I shall be cleared for my audiometry on Friday, and the final medical clearance will come at a later time. I have almost all of my papers ready (except for the NBI clearance and my parents' Marriage Contract), but the medicals are more important. 'Tis all very sad for me since I won't be able to have the orientations and whatever newbie activities with my 'batchmates'. I blame late approval of job offer, and ear blockage.