PARADOXICAL

Like Squeezing Blood from Stone

(A post-mortem of a high school grand alumni homecoming at a time of high inflation rate, from the perspective of one of the supposed organizers but couldn't show up for the most part)

"How did they pull it off?"

I kept asking my incredulous self this question, while I forced myself to attend the 2025 CLTC-PSU Laboratory High School Alumni Homecoming this year in which our batch was among the three host batches.

I couldn't pass up this one chance despite my health condition (I suffer from a variety of torments, from abnormal sensitivity or high irritability to loud sounds to debilitating heart palpitations when triggered). ...Especially since I haven't seen a lot of my former classmates in high school for years and years: Rodel from Ireland, Anaria from New Jersey (USA), Jona from Oman, Menchu from Manila, even Larry from Brgy. Zone IV... (They're back home now, but Arthur used to work in Russia, and Mira often came from some random seriously distressed country as doctor for Médecins sans Frontières.)

If I was incredulous, it's because the last time my batchmates and I were the host (in April of 19-copong-copong), our experience was far from reassuring, to put it mildly. It was an experience of tremendous responsibility that I hope I would never have to face again, ever.

Our experience back then as one of the select few who dared to take on the challenge of organizing such a big, formal affair was filled with hits and misses, having no first-hand experience with such things.

And that is why I've been worried all along with Cheryl of Batch '97 and Jona of Batch '87. How would they make things happen? I've wondered if they had the physical, mental, and spiritual stamina to survive it all.

Organizing a high school reunion requires passion for staging events, a particular skills set, dedication, attention to detail, and hard work. It meant, most especially, being hands-on, or being physically present when doing and directing every step of the planning process and the execution.

So here is a quick rundown of what happened.

In the planning stage one year before the big day, which Mira generously hosted at her family's house, the vision was a formal occasion, with sit-down dinner, party, dancing, rich food, and nostalgic music.

My first comment is: This was already problematic with many of us because our idea of a reunion is the one we always had: simple and basic, totally unprepared, spontaneous, impulsive, if you will, with the food and other expenses volunteered by everyone according to one's capacity (potluck) or sponsored or taken care of by someone visiting from abroad. The venue is not important at all as long as it is decent and comfortable; it's the company that counts and the endless hours of catching up with one another and reminiscing the good old days. It boils down to who is available and willing at the moment. Not much questions asked why someone opts out -- each circumstance or choice is respected, even if only grudgingly. (Surely, we'd love to see each one face to face once again?)

Not everyone, I realized, warmed up to the idea of a formal gathering with other batches whose members are total strangers to us. (Which is the case with most of us who were indeed schoolmates but never saw or interacted with one another within the four years of our limited stay in school.)

But as things turned out, tradition trumped personal batch preference (which meant not participating at all, with each batch holding their own separate affairs).

This, of course, meant gargantuan tasks ahead, but the No. 1 order of the day was no other than the funding. Where to get that huge amount at this time of hardship due to the high inflation rate especially in the Philippines? Expenses, if we do the quick math, would easily run up to a million pesos -- no joke.

As tradition would have it, members of the host batches would find creative ways of raising funds in order to shoulder the tag price until contributions reached the desired amount.

We are blessed to have several classmates based abroad who had the cash to spare and could afford to cover for those who had difficulty coming up with the suggested (or more of required) contribution.

With the estimated amount figured out, next up for discussion were a host of other headaches.

First, additional activities were proposed. There would be mass first thing in the morning, followed by a giving of gifts of school supplies to pupils of a selected school (Buenlag Elementary School was chosen).

The problem of venue was next taken up, and the town's new Events Center was preferred because it has air-conditioning. Those who experienced the previous year's gathering at the PSU Benigno Aldana Gymnasium couldn't forget how hot and humid it was in the middle of the sweltering month of April.

The next agenda would be the date, and December 13, 2025 was chosen because it coincided with the vacation leaves typically filed by all workers coming home for the holidays.

The next issue was the theme, and by this, we meant the design and attire. I think it was Jona who proposed bohemian, and no one contested it as it was something new to us and very interesting. After all, we were not yet born when it became the fashion in the '60s or thereabouts. It was challenging, yes, but doable and most likely cheap.

Soon, other concerns were taken up:

Venue reservation meant writing communication letters and booking in advance.

For food catering, Bistro Cinco -- which is based in Quezon City -- got the job, but food tasting was necessary prior to the reservation.

Overall decor and table setting were taken care of by Events Essential. If I may say so, the ever-creative Lyra Pamela Duque (of Switch Cafe as well) did a fabulous job of it, as usual. There was even a free photobooth and an SDE (same-day edit) video.

Programme-invites sure needed additional key people with the right knowhow.

Sentimental nostalgic videos, including a sobering one titled "In Memoriam," look like it was taken care of by Cheryl's students. After all, she is a college prof, and a department chair at that.

I noticed that there was proper video documentation (most likely student journalists from 'The Reflector' and 'Banyuhay'/'Metamorphosis'). There was even a drone. And I didn't expect an FB Live coverage.

As for the mass presider (together with the choir from the local parish church), I was impressed with how easy they were able to get no less than Bishop Fidelis Layog. It certainly helped that he was from the town and perhaps a CLTC alumnus too, plus Mira is an active church worker.

As for the raffle items, some extra-generous individuals whose identities I can't reveal donated round trip tickets to Singapore, Siargao, and Palawan and a P25,000 cash prize.

Prizes for games also had to be taken care of separately.

For the first time, it was decided that there would be no entrance fee. And there would be free souvenir shirts for those who had pre-registered on time online.

I noticed the total absence of security detail and MDRRMO hazard assessment, but I saw a POSO personnel assisting with the parking.

I didn't notice it taken up, but I totally appreciate it that there was a welcoming committee with friendly ushers.

As for the operation of the sound system and the LED screen, I saw Ville of ICT Office assisting a couple of young people I presume to be PSU students.

In the face of all these workload, Cheryl and Jona (who was directing things from faraway Oman while working as a doctor) had to contend with an obstacle course of challenges, all formidable and forbidding.

Most of host batch members were either unwilling to participate or unavailable for various reasons or both. Maybe many shared our quandary with clashing ideas of what reunions are or should be.

Many of those whose spirits were willing had bodies that were weak due to age, mobility issues, other various forms of disabilities, and full workload and busy schedules.

Other problems that came up included unconfirmed pledges of support.

Even the simplest matters can mean everything. To wit:

Who will actually pick and choose the raffle items all the way from, say, Divisoria, to Bayambang?

Who will do the actual work of hauling off and carrying one by one all those stuff, especially the sacks of rice? Who has that rare virtue of humility to take on the task of kargador?

Who will be the emcees? (It looks like hiring a pair of masters at their game solved the problem.)

Who will be assigned to do the doxology (a solemn video did it), provide entertainment (a band was hired), and intermission numbers (it looks like dancers from Matalunggaring Dance Troupe were hired as well and took care of the dances and music choices)? If I were young and had the means, I would have my own idea of top 100 dance tracks to play as DJ. (Check my timeline for the list.)

Who will take care of the event place itself before and after the affair? (Good thing the LGU's GSO logistics staff took care of it.)

Who will personally contact our teachers for invitation?

Who will be the floor manager/director? (No less than Cheryl and Jona handled the job.)

There's even the matter of who will assist each and every speaker in going up and down the stage so no one trips over the stairs and embarrasses himself/herself.

I don't think there was someone who checked the wirings and the floor for safety. (I actually stumbled upon a part of a rubber flooring that curled.) And what if there was an emergency power outage unfortunately typical of the local provider (CENPELCO) in this town (after all those decades of operating)?

And on the big night, the one last truly dreadful question to answer is: Will everyone actually show up? It takes a great deal of courage and humility to show up at all in any school reunion, if you have nothing to boast about or take pride in, in the conventional sense: if you are mysteriously single, with no kids too, after all these years; not successful according to the standards of the community; couldn't come in a nice car; issues with physical appearance; and other reasons to be ashamed of, according to one's negative internal mental scripts. So I wanted to congratulate those who fit any of these categories and still showed up!

High school reunions are especially rife with re-living unresolved issues and facing the unprocessed traumas of youth and reviewing one's relationships with former academic rivals, amorous trysts, TOTGAs, bullies, BFFs, bromance, terror profs, and the like, so things can get awkward, unless everyone has moved on and is able to laugh it all off. The thing is, the prospect of getting uncomfortable is real.

And what if it rained hard? Indeed, it was cloudy that afternoon. What would have been the Plan B? Was there any, just in case, in the remote chance?

Among the valuable lessons learned, is first and foremost, for the organizers to establish rapport with other host batches, and in fact all batches, ideally speaking, so there would be amicable relationship or a sense fellowship to start with. Maybe this could be done through various meetings, either physical or online, or both. It would be a lot easier to work together with the breaking of the ice.

In the end, this homecoming (2025), together with the one immediately before it, are hard to top, one for the books. But I can just imagine the mix of heartaches and pain Cheryl and Jona had to endure like what I, Angie, Menchu, Badz, and Melvin went through before. For sure, hard emotions and anguished thoughts had to compete for the sense of accomplishment, and most especially the joy afforded by the celebration.

(I remember, at this juncture, one of my faux pas back then: failing to include the principal of the high school in the program (Principal Mel Fernandez) because I was not very much aware of the school hierarchy that we had to deal with.)

In the middle of the joyous occasion, when the host batches were ceremoniously turning over the keys to the next host batches, Juvy (now the resident pediatrician Dr. Payumo) of Batch '88 could hardly suppress a micro-second of wincing in her face at the enormity of it all.

At this point, my prayer is this: May Cheryl and Jona find forgiveness in their hearts for all the slights and neglect and feelings of abandonment they must have felt. And may they be given the grace to be magnanimous in foregoing and forgetting the defects, infirmities, inadequacies, indifference, and whatever offenses they had met with or perceived to have been committed. May the tremendous success of a truly memorable, because elegant and well-organized, affair be their best revenge.

With the standard set by these two miracle workers, I really wish the next host batches the best of luck. But I also pray that next time around, there would be a lot of hands, a lot of warm bodies (particularly from the younger set), willing to volunteer. Because coming up with such a level of activity is next to impossible under the circumstances detailed above -- yes, like squeezing blood from stone.

(Photo dump to follow soon. Some photos grabbed from PSU-Bayambang page)

posted by Resty Odon  # 4:54 PM