"five seconds!"

i don't consider myself particularly lucky. unlike most people, lady luck only drops by when someone else needs a favor from her. take today, for instance: for our pre-final grade in filipi2, we were asked to formulate arguments for both sides of a motion, one of which we would defend in front of another section. the idea was that if the stage fright didn't kill you, the impartiality of the audience's impressions would.

i chose to discuss whether or not the need for a writer to experience first-hand the events he or she writes about is of any importance. to introduce government, i planned to state that men shouldn't write about pregnancy any more than women about circumcision, and to introduce opposition, i planned to take the class on a short tour of tolkien's middle earth. the tragedy was that i drew government, but suddenly realized 30 seconds into my speech that i was defending opposition. i quickly shafted, but it was obvious that the damage had already been done.

i exited the classroom fully expecting a grade under 2.0; instead, i ended up as one of the two or three speakers who garnered a four.

still in shock, i was shakily making my way down the stairs of velasco, when i ran into mitch [of "mitch-agon" fame] who, it turned out, only had time to prepare for opposition. it was at that moment that it all made sense, and in faith i handed her my yet-unused outline for government.

sure enough, she drew government.

sige ingat.ü 
posted by stani at 7:49 PM