THE 1982 batch of high school graduates—of which I am member—at the University of the Philippines Integrated School
does not dazzle with theatrical names. Other than film director Cesar Buendia, there are no thespians in our
roster as luminous as Floy Quintos, Ryan Cayabyab, and Sandy Andolong, let alone Grace Amilbangsa, Jomari Fleras, and
the Damian siblings. They all belong to older batches.
But who needs such names, when we have hilarious batch mates whose collective hubbub is
entertaining enough to stop a show? The fun is evident at our own electronic newsgroup at Yahoo!Groups.
The medium links together over half of the 365 members of our batch with information
shared across the globe.
It also keeps us riveted with hysterical witticisms and irreverence.
Witness the incorrigible XP Casambre, who once announced the passing of a much-loved grade-school
teacher. It unified us with concerted efforts to pay our final respects—until we all
realized that this was a case of mistaken identity and that Mr Espiritu was in fact very much alive
and very much amused by the news of his “mortality”!
No one can ever ignore the ripostes of Cesar Buendia, who types all-caps, and
Joey Breva, who writes kilometric messages with a single sentence. Or the unexpected
one-liners of Frannie Villanueva and Nina Saldaña. Or the fizzy e-mails of Dong Matta and JJ Cariño. Dotted with “hahahaha”s, they echo what the rest of us are thinking.
And that is just the hoot from the newsgroup. Imagine the roar of actual gatherings.
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