Second Soliloquy
A journey into the mindscape...
The Batch Activity Called LEADS
Preparation (Sunday night):
Gathered all the stuff I needed, and wanted to fit all the stuff into one bag. It did, except for the other bag which I would use later when I get back, so I settled on using both. I finished a long time before midnight, but I decided that I might risk waking up late for the 6:00AM departure, so I stayed up and used the Internet as a coffee substitute. Fell asleep anyway, but luckily woke up around 5:15, just in time to make final preparations and leave (it takes me only around 5 minutes to get to Pisay, by the way).
Day 1:
When we get to Angel's Hills (the venue for the thing), we are soon gerrted with a rather memorable lecture by Cromwell about the rules. We were then passed on to our facilitator, Tita Becky. She's okay, and I have some respect for her, but most of my batchmates found her really, really annoying. After registration and a short discussion of the first activity, we were sent to lunch. The activity, by the way, is to pair up (same gender, since the boys have a different dining hall), with one blindfolded. The other has to guide the other to the dining hall, then assist the blindfolded one so they can both have lunch. After lunch, we got settled into the dormitories while the girls went to their respective cottages (why can't we get the cottages, for a change?). Some time later, we went back to the conference hall to discus the first activity. This kind of discussion is done after every activity, so it gets boring and tediously repetitive after the first, especially since the same questions are asked all the time.
The first talk, however, was rather lively. The speaker was really energetic, gave a very powerful delivery, and seemed to get the entire batch listening. Especially the "I'm GREAT!!!" parts.
Marvin gets the unofficial Speaker of the Year Award for his rendition of the Growing Good Corn story.
One time we were asked to make a Wheel of Life, where you're given a paper plate, then you have to partition it into seven parts representing seven aspects, then put down your plans for the future, using either a picture, some writing, or a mixture of both. We were supposed to learn something about ourselves. I didn't, though at least writing it down set it straight in my mind. More like everyone else learned something about me.
After dinner was a series of 3-minute one-on-one chat sessions with each of your classmates (we weren't grouped randomly until day 2). We were arranged in a flattened circle, so that you were always face-to-face with someone. You had 3 minutes to talk with that person about stuff, then everyone rotated and changed partners. Now I learned something about myself (and a bit about others). My greatest discoveries that time were that (1) I'm not anti-social, but it does take me a lot of time to open up to people, and (2) people from Truth really want to know more about me, if only I weren't so mysterious. I love my section now. Not that I hated them before (why would I?), it's just that I never felt that attatched to my section before. Not back in Dia, not back in Rosal, not back in Potassium. Not even for most of the year in Truth. I hope you guys understand.
We took so long, though, that there wasn't much left of the midnight snack. So after a bit of food, I went back to the dorm, played Magic for a bit, then settled off to sleep.
Day 2:
First thing after breakfast: another talk, this time, about the first three habits in the 7 habits of effective people or something. Here, the speaker talks about having a big picture to reach for, having steps to take to get there, knowing the minimum effort required, and a bit of other stuff. It makes me think how my big picture is different from some other people's.
My big picture doesn't include having a lot of money to spend, or being a big successful person (the kind of success the world sees). Influential, maybe, but I have a different kind of influence in mind. I, in the span of 10 or so years, will work as a counsellor (guidance counsellor?), or a teacher. Money wouldn't matter to me at that point, as long as I have enough to sustain my physical existence. I would be an inspiration to others, encouraging them to live up to their own potentials, not just for themselve, but for others as well.
After that, more activities. First, the flying vessel made of a single sheet of paper, the one that goes the farthest wins. Second and last, keeping a beachball aloft over your heads, most taps on the ball wins (or, well, it's 1 point per tap anyway). They should have known that students from a school that promotes creativity and innovation would proabably come up with off-the-wall solutions.
The next talk honestly bored me. History in whatever form, unless it's a really interesting story, tends to make me sleepy. And since I was already drowsy as is, given that I only got a few hours of sleep, I had to put a lot of effort just to stay awake. Useless, with the exception of not being rude by falling asleep in front of the speaker. I couldn't understand a thing. I didn't even notice if he was being boastful (well, that's what the others said).
Batch bonding after dinner. Which, to me, was more of entertainment than actual bonding. Some groups singing in front, Jerms doing his classic magic show. I was feeling sentimental and contemplative at the time, so I wandered off. As I passed by the dormitories, I noticed a cat following me around. Unmistakable, since it stopped when I did, and even turned around and followed me whenever I go in a different direction. I wanted to get away from it, until I noticed it was sneezing (or something like that. Ehh, point is, it looked sick). I was about to finally give in and befriend the poor thing when someone went and scared it away. I never saw it again...
Day 3:
One final talk. Not all history this time, but it constituted more than half. Sleepiness plus illogically associated insights resulted in nothing learned, again. Enough said.
Personal credo writing. Make your own, and it should be sincere, and it should reflect what you believe in. Here's mine (it got a nice comment from Tita Becky):
"I have decided / Never to step on others on the way up / To reach greater heights by lifting others up / And should I be left far behind / I shall be content in finding success in those whom I have helped to succeed"
Yes, line breaks and first word capitalization. I was feeling poetic at the time. After the writing part, everybody presented them individually in front of the entire batch. There were the serious ones. And then there were the ones that would make you wonder if the author was just pulling your leg. And then, there were the disciples of Cromwell. Basically, what they did was reiterate the points Cromwell made at the start of LEADS about the rules, and they did that to the extent of imitating his intonation. Pretty hilarious, for a while.
Then the "In and Out Circle". Everyone in '05 in a circle, eyes closed, while Sir Vlad and some other person (I do not know who) gave a nice long poetic speech, summarizing the 4 year experience in pisay. I sent a lot of people to tears. My reaction? Nothing. None that you would notice, unless you know me a lot and were watching rather closely. Mine was a zombieish trance and a loss of appetite, which is what happens to me whenever sonething upsets me. Walking a bit slowly towards the dorm, the first thing I did instead of going to the nearby dining hall for lunch was to plop down on my respective bed and distract myself. I had to, to keep up my cover of okayness later on. I had just enough time to fix myself up so I didn't look so distraught. I still didn't feel like eating, though. At the dining hall, I only got a relatively small amount of food, ate quickly, and plopped back on the bed.
After that, well, the bus ride back to pisay ended the batch activity. Oh, wait, the story isn't over yet...
[edit-inserted note: ehh... forget the aftermath. It's irrelevant. And I'm lazy]
