Change of Engagement

by MrsPartyGirl

It's nice to be nostalgic about the past, as Vergie puts it. College life was like the beginning of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities: it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The readings, exams, recitations, papers, election campaigns, and projects seemed neverending. And yet, it was the wonderful relief of extra-curricular activities, both legal and illegal, that made it the best: orgs, tambay, watching movies in between classes, all-you-can-eat pizzas at Pizza Hut, gamak performances, pop colas at mang gerry's (+) , and, yes, fencing.

Fencing was the coolest, most perfect sport for us nerds. We competed with other schools, we trained with the Philippine team, heck, we played with Richard Gomez, conducted exhibitions at the school lobby, and basically strutted around wearing our skin-tight jackets and breeches (sans the helmet, sometimes).

It was probably the "No Guts No Glory, John!" that sealed it. Our batch of nerds and semi-nerds fused together to become the "favorite" achievers of our professors, both then and now.

Now is a different story. Almost ten years after our last salut, we are different people. Some are still nerds, some have the best careers, some have become devoted (?) spouses and parents, some just turned way cooler, and some probably just grew up. What never changed is that we're all still friends.

Here's a place to read about what we have become beyond fencing, how we justify being the best batch produced by our alma mater, how swordfighting toughened us and how mesh jackets never did protect us from the strikes and pokes of life, and just to show that we somehow did grow up.

And if you can't get enough of us here in this group blog, there are links to our contributors' spots that will take you further into their twisted minds.

Our virtual fencing logbook. En garde!

"And I'm here to remind you..."