Bleed Green

I sometimes jokingly say that if you cut me up, I bleed green. This is the story of almost an entire life spent with De la Salle, both in Lipa and Manila. As somebody once said, if you do not write the story down, you will soon forget about it.  The story will come in installments, so keep coming back to see what new chapters I have added.  I will attempt to portray life in Lipa and La Salle through the sixties and seventies when I was a student as well as when I returned back to DLSL in 1982 to start teaching.

This is actually a continuing story which I broke down into “articles” with titles for easier reading. While it’s everyone’s personal choice which of the links below to click, I highly recommend that you all start with the first one and read all installments sequentially from there.

Bookmark this page or submit your e-mail at the Follow by E-Mail form box (upper right) to follow this evolving story.

The Years as a Student at DLSL

CHAPTER I

The Math Genes, the Language Genes, the Practicality Genes
The Queen’s Language
Ah Yes... the Football...

CHAPTER II

The Our Lady of the Rosary Academy Years
Electrified, Literally

CHAPTER III

That Ugly Little School Called La Salle
The Simplicity of Elementary Life at La Salle
A Falling Out with Br. Vernon Mabile
Brother Rafael Donato, the First Incarnation at DLSL
An Experimental Elementary Section
When I Almost Got Whacked with Brother's Paddle
First Time Being Part of a Football Team

CHAPTER IV

Student Activism Reaches the Halls of La Salle Lipa
An Unplanned Trip to Sir Cris Zarate's Home
Forioculture and Typing

CHAPTER V

The Declaration of Martial Law
La Salle ng Lipa... A Fairly Stupid Name for a School
Brother Ray Suplido as Football Coach

CHAPTER VI

Junior Year: A Change in the Scheduling of Classes
The Math Wizards Baltik and Saltik
When the Speech Teacher Hurled His Book Across the Room
The "War" with Sir Cris Zarate
My First-Ever Failing Grade and the Fatal Puerto Galera Trip
Military Training and Foreigners in our Class
Bisugo and Vuko: The Namecalling Adolescents Are so Fond of
Shortened Periods Just to Watch Muhammad Ali Fight

CHAPTER VII

The Year When DLSL First Went Coeducational
The Best Teachers of Senior Year at DLSL
The Brother who Wanted to Murder Us... But Just for a Moment...
When Lim Eng Beng Led DLSC to the NCAA Championship... And We had no Classes as Well...
Being Part of the Staff of the Bulik and the Stallion
The First Binibining La Salle Pageant
The Little Olympics and Graduation

The DLSU Years

CHAPTER VIII

Enrollment and the Rude DLSU Office Staff
The Embarrassing Need to Borrow Money from Brother Crisanto Moreno
When DLSU First Became a University
A Deliciously Eccentric Professor Called Dr. Villacorta
The Travails ROTC Brought
My First Ateneo-La Salle NCAA Basketball Game in 1975
The Need to Take Time Off Just to Grow Up
Returning to DLSU and the Decision to Drop Commerce
Being "International" at DLSU
Sitting Next to Basketball's Tonichi Yturri

Chapter IX

Choosing a Majors Program and Making the Dean's List
Making the DLSU Varsity Football Team and Being Surprised About it
Finally Starting to Enjoy College Life
Some of the Most Memorable DLSU Professors
...and also Some Not so Memorable Professors
My First NCAA Game for DLSU
A Disastrous NCAA and the Youth Tournament

Chapter X

Trying to be too Smart with Mrs. Honda, our Nihonggo Teacher
Meeting F. Sionil Jose and Nick Joaquin, the Einsteins of Philippine Literature
The American European History Teacher who Blew His Top
My First Taste of Dima's Cardiovascular Sprints
The Red Card I should have Gotten but Never Did
The Bittersweet Final NCAA Match Versus Mapua
Getting Hepatitis and Fearing Missing out on my Final NCAA Season
The Crazy Three Matches in One Weeked
Goodbye DLSU... Finally Completing my Academics