MANA
“Naku, Neil Brian, manang-mana talaga kayong lahat sa Daddy niyo[1],” Mom uttered after she has slapped my thighs about a hundred times already for not waking myself up on time.
My Dad had been self-supporting; his drunkard father didn’t support his schooling. He spent his teenage years selling pan de sal and street varieties and worked with his uncles sculpting wood and escayola[2] in Paete, Laguna. Luck opened opportunities, and he found himself working with a wealthy Arab national for Islamic carvings even though he finished drafting technology in TUP. Now, a China-based American designing firm promoted him to be the supervisor of all the craftsman in Dolan Designs.
“Hay Neil, sanay ka nang turuan ang sarili mo, kaya yayaman ka siguro pagka-graduate mo.”[3]
I have never been punctual.
According to my mom, I always do, and even prioritize, unnecessary things like my father. Overdues are our meriendas. We spend more that we should. Not necessarily referring to money, but in an exemplary, we kill time for drawing for long hours, we read for long hours, we use our PC for long hours. Therefore, we sleep for long hours. I love sleeping.
I learn without learning.
I do not focus on my studies religiously. But I learn. I am not bothered in my grades, but I worry about my scholarship (we’re under austerity measures). Anyway, my professors love me because I am smart. Haha.
“Mamaya na”[4] habit
I love cramming. My dad loves cramming. But we always finish on time. And if we didn’t, we still make it. Much of our delight.
Mom even finds our dad’s resemblance when I eat and walk. And sometimes, she tells me I have inherited most of my dad’s characteristic traits than my brothers. I pondered.
Yes, we know how to handle a spoon and a fork. But even if I have a fork on my plate, I use my hands to churn on the meat and use my fingers to dip it in ketchup, soy sauce, or the Filipino Mang Tomas sauce. Then the spoon comes in filled with rice. Baboy[5], ano?
I am not flat-footed–all my brothers are. But the bulk on our knees make us pace like we’re gonna tumble somebody down. We don’t walk awkwardly… I don’t know
what my mom was saying. Though I’ve noticed the bone bump on my brothers’ shoulders which I don’t have and is not related to the previous sentence.
I am the fairest of them all. No, I am not Snow White. But I sometimes been compared to a skinless turnip beside three potatoes. And most of the time, I am told to be the best-looking. Haha.
I am the most intelligent daw[6]. I disagree. Though I have grabbed most of our academic and interschool competition awards at home, I still salute my Kuya for being so logically smart. Think about the most common sensed-tagged syllogisms in the world, and he can abide. I just sophisticate and complicate things. That’s why in decision-making, Kuya is always there. The house can live without Neil saying anything.
I am more inclined to art than the rest of my brothers. They assumed I am more willing to spend my life in aesthetics than them by just placing all my masterpieces to theirs. But I suppose I have just affiliated my talents to a wider scope, and not only in art. I don’t know how to explain it… I just avoid comparing my craft to my brothers because I find it merely bragging. Haha. Showing-off.
Even if in my utmost sincerity to have identified my Dad’s resemblances in me, I still pave more slots in our contrasts. Which I apparently have no time identifying.
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I think I am getting more serious in my studies. I didn’t notice in a snap I’ve already bought an Inquirer newspaper a while ago thinking that it’ll help in my bad writing (which I demonstrate right now.) I’ve also done our assignments in advance. Gawd. I don’t wanna be me.
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Me and my three siblings had the greenest thumbs in arts–the deepest exaltation of my Mom that none of us had the similar stick-figures she did when she was still making fun of her expensive fountain pens. None of us are not capable of drawing lines straight without rulers. And I never compared my craft to them, though I am easily flattered when my younger brothers consult me when they are troubled in some drawings which I respectfully responded with…
“Tinuruan ko ang sarili kong matuto sa ganyan, kaya matuto kayo sa sarili n’yo…” [7]
Bwahahaha.
Not because of selfishness, but of independence. I’ve been independent in nurturing what is now my specialty. I didn’t rely much to our Dad. Cite the number of years he has been spending working abroad. I don’t want them to be so dependent to their older brothers like what other youngest siblings do in their families. (Mind you, I’m not the eldest.)
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The faculty of Languages and Mass Communication seemed to have alloted a slot for me in their peer. Like, oh Neil, you’re here. How are you. And they crack jokes, as if they are of the same age as mine. They ask me like I’m their classmate. I find it kinda fishy. They are getting closer to me, and my classmates find an instrument for bridging them to the professors.
The most intimidating teachers of our college getting closer to me? Or it’s just because I am the most intelligent and the most talented student in CAS who worried much on his pimples rather than memorizing the Bill of Rights? Haha. Probably, they are courting me to win another news reporting competition somewhere in Cavite? Or maybe they have just found a use of me in making all their largely-imprinted majestically-presented tarpaulins in our university?
Utu-uto[8].
1. You’re really like your father.
2. Plaster of Paris
3. Oh Neil, you might become wealthy with your self-orientation when you graduate.
4. “Will do it later”
5. Swine
6. according to some people
7. Teach yourself. I learned everything only by myself .
8. Dumbass.
