ang GULONG NG PALAD nga talaga

“Kung minsan ang takbo ng buhay mo, Pagdurusa nito’y walang hanggan, Wag kang manimdim ang buhay ay, Gulong ng palad, gulong ng palad, Ang may kapal marunong tumingin, sa taong naghirap at nasawi, bawat isang gabi ay mayroong, isang umaga, isang umaga.. Gulong ng palad, ang buhay ay, gulong ng palad, ang kandungan, ang kapalaran, kung minsan ay, nasa ilalim/ibabaw”

I was watching TV last night and chanced upon the Channel 2 Telenovela ‘Gulong ng Palad’ which stars Kristine Hermosa and TJ Trininad. It SUDDENLY occured to me that TJ TRINIDAD CAN SPEAK TAGALOG!! You might wonder why I said that, well he CLAIMED not to know how to speak Tagalog. And I remember everything that happened in DETAIL.

During the 3rd sem of my Freshman year(ID 98 ako) in DLSU our very rowdy and noisy class was suddenly quited by the entrance of TJ TRINIDAD. He’s famous for the SWATCH commercial where he and co-star started kissing out of the blue IN PUBLIC!! His good-looking mestizo features make heads turn wherever he goes. And for a fact everyone KNEW he went to DLSU. So for a few seconds the class was stunned by his sudden entrance. All the girls in the class/block including me were hoping against hope to sit beside him(shempre naman noh!) Then our professor for the JPRizal class also entered. I forgot her name but she’s kinda dark and chubby – she claims that she doesn’t let her kids watch TV – and she has her class in Tagalog. Argh.. I know for a fact that in college, professors RARELY have a seating arrangement, but this professor – well, she was known to have all of her class seated ALPHABETICALLY. YES, alphabetically. I say YES, because of all the girls in class, I BENEFITED THE MOST FROM THIS arrangement!! WHen the professor announced that she wanted the class to sit alphabetically (- I remember hoping for this, seriously!) I was the happiest person in class. I say this because I really was! Imagine, having to sit beside TJ TRINIDAD for the whole semester!! Man, you’re up close and personal with this guy! And of course, there’s the kilig factor too! (-gwapo eh!) I remember the professor mentioning the names of each student and mentioning them to sit where, when she got to my name TIU, C***, then TRINIDAD, RAUL – TJ Trinidad‘s real name. BiNgO!! That’s him! She motioned for him to sit beside me. Of course at first, mejo nahihiya pa ako to speak to him, so dead-ma muna right? But come 3rd day of class on speaking terms na kami. I secretly hoped that he would remember my name, kahit name lang – pwede na. That’s all I wanted (-for him to remember me!! Ang corney ko noh?) But then when then all of a sudden he came to class less and less – the professor explained that – HE CANNOT SPEAK TAGALOG, NAHIHIRAPAN SHA, but he can converse well in Spanish (I think secretly, they did). And so I saw less of him, but there was still the hope that one day, he’ll come to class again. AND HE DID come to class, I cannot remember exactly when or why but he did (buti nalang) I was lucky enough to own an ENGLISH copy of a book about Rizal, he asked to borrow it. OF course what would I say, shempre ‘OF COURSE!’ – sagot agad diba?! (I did seem eager, I think) He borrowed my book for the whole of that semester. Sobrang happy nalang ako and ini-imagine ko na ‘he has something of mine’ – I know it’s baduy and all but I don’t care – that was my moment. MY MOMENT! Haha.. And when finally it was nearing the end of the term, he was excused by the professor from the final exam – the reason being – HINDI MARUNONG MAG-TAGALOG. Damn him and his Spanish speaking. I think most of us in class had an inkling that the professor had a crush on him. He was excused/exempted and the professor made it public and announced it to everyone(that he had a special test or something to that effect!) Kakainis!! And so after the finals, I never saw him again. Sad.. I thought the book will never be returned (-which is perfectly okay since nahawakan na nya diba?!) I was shocked that the following semester while walking through the chess plaza (nearing the Girl’s Locker room – before the construction of the new buidling) I heard my name being called. ‘Candice!’ I turned around to see who it was, THEN.. he came walking towards me. I never doubted for a second that he was referring to me – what I doubted was what I was seeing and hearing, ‘Nanaginip ba ako? Tama ba na si TJ TRINIDAD yan?’ – that was what was going thru my head. I’m not sure who I was with (-I think si Shirley yon, but she might not remember it anymore..) Then he came up to me, handed me the book he borrowed and said ‘Candice, thanks for the book ah.. It helped, thanks!’ He smiled then walked away. I was awestruck for a few seconds. My expression was shocked, kilig, and in disbelief – of what happened’ He KNEW my name!! TJ Trinidad KNEW my name (-and remembers me) Haha.. Anyways, after that incident, he was nice enough naman to smile and raise his hand to acknowledge when we came across one another (like twice lang ata since the ‘returning of the book’) Till now, I remember EVERYTHING in detail. Na-aalala ko pa nga where the classroom was and where we were seated eh! Ganun ka lala!! I know it’s super kapal to claim this, but I say – If it wasn’t for my book – MAHIHIRAPAN sha with the JPRizal class. (Pero ako lang nag-iisip nyan) Bottomline is- he BECAME my SEATMATE and classmate in JPRizal class. (For those who doubt this story – check with the DLSU Registrar’s office and for SURE our names will come side by side when you pull up the records for the student list for THAT particular JPRizal class – I will search my course cards stack)

ANYWAYS, to TJ TRINIDAD slash RAUL TRINIDAD – I hope you’d still remember me, I lent you my book for the whole semester! If it were not for that book…. Just kidding!! Haha… I would be shocked to see that IF and WHEN we do come across one another, and you’d still remember me – nako, bilib na talaga ako sayo!! (I know now that you can understand EVERYTHING I wrote here – FOR SURE!!)

**I hope to get a clearer picture of him though..