Experience UP: The Fabled [U]nibersidad ng [P]ila
Everyone was scribbling furiously; working on those creative juices that should flow at the proper times. We were supposed to conceptualize our very own argumentative papers in our subject, English 10, and, boy, it wasn't easy- at least for me. I shuffled from mind squeezing topics like to globalization and capitalism to experiential ones such as computer gaming. (But enough of such; this isn't the topic) Halfway into the remaining time, most of us were already straining our eyebrows to such great archs you could see them as small c's. But those c's eased down when we were relieved to hear light- in a good way, not exactly comical- topics from our classmates. Most memorable of those thesis statements was the one about UP being the "Unibersidad ng Pila" and "Unibersidad ng Pagkain" (University of Queue and University of Food).
At that time, I didn't really see why. From first day up to that particular minute, I didn't have to face the dreadful experiences the older ates and kuyas; we were given some sort of priority over choosing our classes and the sort. "I'll never be waking at 3 in the morning and waiting in line by 6 in front of the college, waiting for the doors to swing open and register." I thought back then.
NOOOOOOOT! Hate to admit it, but I guess I might just have to put my foot out of my mouth. Though the possibility of sleeping inside the college buildings, waiting for the manual registration seems remote, as the system has recently been computerized (thank goodness), the UP my classmate once described has hit home.
As most of you would know by now (or maybe not), I'd be shifting out of my course (sadly) and would be needing to study a merciless mathematics subject over the rest of the summer; yes, it sucks, don't rub it in. So, even against the deepest recesses of my cerebrum, I'd have to enroll myself. And I did. I went to my college this morning, asked around, and filled some forms. No biggie, really. Except that the first blow came quite too soon; 2007's (that's us) had to be processed until after 1 o'clock. That wasn't really bad for me as I still had an appointment with my doctor and I could simply while away the time effortlessly. I didn't know the storm was just coming.
Back in the campus, I made my first mistake of the day (afternoon, to be exact) and had the jeepney circle around the campus and take me to the nearest dirt road leading to my college; I was not aware that that would have some pretty serious impact. Upon entering the cozy edifice, I quickly submitted my Form 5, otherwise known as the most important form (well, this is only an assumption), to be assessed. Waiting, I knew, was an inevitable part of life. I braced myself for it and embraced it wholly; along with the fiery air hitting my face, dehydrating thirst and just sheer anxiousness to go home. That, however, I had to endure for a straight 2 hours and 30 minutes. It turned out that the processing and assessing of the fees for each student took more than 5 minutes or so each. True, there wasn't exactly a queue or pila in the strictest sense of the word, but there was one in thought as we giddily- and somehow impatiently- anticipated our names to be called and get the hell out of there. The invisible pila was felt by everyone; people tapped fingers anxiously, some paced the lobby tirelessly (myself included), and a few even rejoiced verbally when their names were announced.
OK, let's skip that. There really isn't much to be discussed anyway in the stretch of time. After having been assessed and reassessed (due to an error in the computation), I naturally sped my way out and found a Toki to get me to the cashier's office just a stone's throw from the Shopping Center. It was there that I found the consequence of the 5 minutes I let go earlier in the ride of the jeep: an extra long line greeted me with smugs in faces. At that time, the so-called Unibersidad ng Pila was starting to dawn on me, but I shrugged it off and was ready for another exciting adventure looking at another person's back (or foot, or a cute little shrub, etc). Bad news was it was already 4:15 when I reached the place, and a strictly enforced cut-off time rule was present; only up to 4:30 would the office entertain those settling fees. I cosidered getting out of the line and going home, got rejuvenated when the queue moved rather quickly, and got crushed when only 4 people were between me and my goal. Alas, the security guard behind the glass doors flipped the hallowed "OPEN" sign and it immediately read "CLOSED". We were given numbers on post-its to serve as our special passes the next day, thus giving us more priority when we lined up again tomorrow; to me, they looked like sour reminders of our failed attempt to settle enrollment in one day.
Pilas aren't so bad when you look at them. They reinforce within us the value of patience; sometimes kindness too when you're feeling elated to let someone else go in front of you. They're also, unfortunately for idealists, inevitable; we'd all have to face them sometime, somewhere. But, a few adjustments in our "riding comfy jeeps" and general discipline with regard to time, may make the pila just better.
