Closing Time...

Above: My First Room at Ross University Housing in Fall 2007.

I'M A KEEPER.

I remember moving into college for the first time at my Alma Mater, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. I simply had a tub of clothes, a computer (okay not even that, now that I think of it), a few odds and ends items, and a few hangers. Little did I know that by the time I would graduate from the U of I, I would basically own everything from the practical to the extremely impractical. I had so many things that I kept since my first days at the University that I basically stuffed the back of our Ford Aerostar van.

Now, I'm basically at the same stage here at Ross. I'm about to leave, and with the limit placed on carrying luggage, I can't exactly stuff up my bag with everything here. Everything I have has a fate now: donated, thrashed, packed, or the one for the lazy, left behind.

Just like they say that a picture is worth a 1000 words, I have to say that a memoir is worth 1000 memories. And not all of the memoirs I've collected during my time here could make it back with me to the states. Here's some odds and ends that I picked up as I was sorting through my stuff before leaving:

1. A soccer ball bracelet...

Back in Semester 1, I got together with my friends Joelle and Chen back in Illinois. We all went and chilled at no place else, but Chuck E. Cheese's. When we got our tickets, we had just enough to grab for each of us four Soccer Ball Bracelets which represented all of us being friends (okay, so one went over to our friend Puneet). And when I said we were friends we definitely were. Our daily activities (other than studying with each other) included singing in front of the library and bothering everyone, creating jumping pictures, and spinning chairs in the back of the Annex during finals week of first semester. When I saw the bracelet after lifting up a bunch of papers that were on top of it this whole time, I kinda stared at it, and realized that its been already a year since first semester. Time flies.

2. Sheet music from Seasons of Love and The Night that Christ was Born...

In 2008, the RCSA choir, which I was directing with my friend Chen at that point, engaged in doing performances for the semester Culture Show. I think that the name Culture Show was a misnomer because even though there were several cultural performances in it (including dancing from a Filipino, Persian, and an Indian group), there's more singing performances than you can imagine that takes place here at Ross. And that's when after a week of hard practice, our experienced pianist, John, and our dancer, Clara, along withour whole choir went out and sung our hearts out. Here's our final performance of Seasons of Love from Summer 2008.

Our following semester, we decided to follow up that performance with a little bit from the song The Night that Christ was Born, from the composer/singer Kirk Franklin. I sang this song as a part of my Undergrad Church Choir (The St. John's 10:30 Choir in Champaign, IL). It was absolutely amazing, and it was really cool to do it once again for our Fourth Semester mass in December 2008.

3. A printer cover sheet with MPS scores from Semester 3...

I remember in semester 3 how much I was freaking out because of the weird placement of the last term exam (nicknamed Minis here at Ross) which is 2 days before the Final Exam for that semester. As a result, you'd get your grades 24 hours after your last term and have 24 hours left to make up any deficiencies from the last term. I walked up to my friend Stephanie, and I said to her, what exactly were the Minimum Passing Scores (MPS) for your semester in order to make myself feel better. I passed that semester, luckily enough, but if it wasn't for the support of my fellow Ross friends (even just to ask what scores were like a semester ago), I wouldn't have made it this far.

4. A driedel-shaped ornament saying "Lil' Pinoy"...

My friend Carla and I used to sit in the cubicle section of the library (nicknamed the Icebox, due to the similarity of White Cubicles to Icecubes). We did some weird things back there, everything from eat our meals (although food wasn't really allowed in the library) to discussing the latest news within our class from cube to cube to taking pictures of our row of friends falling asleep. One day I walked back from getting dinner and this paper-shaped ornament, for the holiday season, was placed right on my desk. According to her and her devious friend Jackie, I was cool enough to be described as "Lil' Pinoy." (Pinoy a nickname for anyone of Filipino culture).

5. An oversized hand-made rosary from Dominica...

One of the last memories of my basic sciences days in Dominica. Every semester, our Ross Catholic Students Association holds a Fourth Semester Mass in tribute for all the people moving onto the great fifth semester. A token of leaving given is a hand-crafted rosary made locally here in Dominica. Kinda big for doing rosary on a regular basis, but a great keepsake of my spirituality here in Dominica.

WELL... I'm sure there were a lot more, but that's what I remember for now. Each one of these memoirs represents a memory that I've had in the past. However, there's gotta be a point where you have to come to acceptance that you can't physically keep every single memoir for your memories. Sometimes you just have to learn to let go, and be secure that the best place to store your memories are up in the ole' noggin.

So... goodbye Lil' Pinoy ornament.

- Sigh -