I remember one time when my computronian (or Computronixian, a Computronix college student) classmates called me chronologist. Hesitant to admit it, I thought several times before I finally acquiesced to their claim. This is maybe because chronology has something to do with history. Unbeknownst to them, besides math, history is one of my waterloos. Nevertheless, math and history have a common ground—both deals on numbers.
Why shan’t I prove true that name once given to me even just for a day? Allow me to relate some events, eventful or not, in the world, in the country, and to my negligible life from the day I stepped on the soil of then Computronix College up to the day I said goodbye to my alma mater and said hello again. This sounds boring but bear with me, it won’t take too long (I’m not that old enough).
On my first day at Computronix College I met my X. Stop what you’re thinking his name was really X. We had our first conversation at the FAME Bldg. We became classmates and friends. We had fun during Asian financial crisis, peso devaluation, among other terms that became points of discussion in our economics class. Did I say terms? Well, I recall the college admin made a signage: “Be Global, Speak English” and posted it inside every room. To help us enrich our English vocabulary, they required us memorized words such as those that begin with geo – geology, geography, geocorona, etc (end-of-thinking-capacity). Then, La Niña, El Niño phenomena which made exams tough (whew!). That same year, the world bewailed the death of the people’s princess Diana who died in a car crash.
In the following year, the unsinkable Titanic made it to the top grossing movie of all time. Not only that, Celine Dion, whose songs were more popular than her, sang many times her number 1 hit “My Heart will go on”, even the Titanic book written by James Cameron was Number 1. Yes, I and my X with other computronians had a chance of watching the movie several times. The summer class of that year was maybe the hottest in the decade. Thanks for the comfort of the newly built VPA Bldg. Classes were held in its spacious, cooler rooms. But the heat wave was scorching in politics during the year when movie-actor- turned-politician Joseph Estrada won the presidential race. The heat was snuffed out when typhoon “Gading” struck several municipalities of Pangasinan while “Armageddon” the movie was being shown in the local theaters. It was like the end of the world. It wasn’t the end, however, for Miriam Quiambao who almost outdid Miss Botswana in the Miss Universe beauty feat.
Millennium bug or the Y2K scared many before the turn of the new millennium. Many business establishments had claimed that they were Y2K ready. Yes, they prepared so much for that millennium transition from 99 to 00 but had not prepared much for the 00 and beyond… I witnessed how the world adorned the millennium celebration. Ostentatious fireworks display to the ends of the earth welcomed Y2K. But before the clock ticked for the New Year, there was an epidemic started a year earlier. The culprit: cell phone. The cellular phone reached its “tipping point” in that year and created a social epidemic.
Computronix College made quantum leaps from then on: the LCA building, Leisure Coast Resort (LCR), and multitudes of students. In the country, there was multitudes also joined EDSA ver. 2.0. The famous impeachment trial astounded international observers, law students and ordinary spectators. Miriamic vocabulary bewildered many from colloquy to soliloquy. It was a spectacle that ignited EDSA 2 and ousted Pres. Estrada from office and GMA was put in place as the new President.
And finally, my college years came to close. It was ’01 when I, my X, and among other computronians marched for graduation. We were the real millennium graduates (technically, the new millennium started in 2001).
I may not live a thousand-year long, I am one of those lucky people who witnessed how a century and a millennium folded and how new ones unfolded. I might not be a real chronologist. I am not sure if the accounts I made on those happenings are chronological, I am glad that I lived during a changeover that happens only in a thousand years. Now, I am already a CdDian (a Colegio de Dagupan family member). I said hello once more to my alma mater and maybe I will stay for good.
