Albert Einstein is my officemate… and he just got moved to our team. Believe it.
Braiiiinnnnnn…
Monthly Archive for November, 2007
One lazy weekday afternoon in the San Pascual residence, a peculiar discussion transpired between Kitch and Dave’s 4-year old kid Liel as she was about to go to the restroom:
Liel: Tita Kitch, may kapatid ka ba? (Do you have a sibling?)
Kitch: Wala eh. Ako lang. (Nope. Just me.)
Liel: (in a pressing tone) Hindi! May kapatid ka! Si Ego kapatid mo! SI EGO ANG KAPATID MO!!! (No! You have a brother! It’s Ego! It’s Ego!!!)
On the same afternoon, Dave’s 7-year-old nephew Joshua approached Kitch with this seemingly harmless question:
Joshua: Kaano-ano mo si Ego? Crush lang ba kayo? (How are you related to Ego? Is he just your crush?)
Kitch: Ah… hindi. Kami na. (Ah… no. We’re together now.)
Joshua: Anong “kami na”? Ano yun? (What does that mean? What’s that?)
Kitch: Boyfriend ko sya, girlfriend nya ako. (He’s my boyfriend, I’m his girlfriend.)
Joshua: (wearing a puzzled look) Ha?! Eh Bakit ka pumayag eh ang itim-itim nun! (Huh? Why did you let him? His skin’s so dark!)
Still on the same afternoon, while I was walking Kitch to the LRT station, a boy on the street was busy flying his paper airplane:
Kid: (while the airplane was in mid-air) Cheverly, cheverly, cheverly!
Tsk tsk… kids.
A few months ago I met a guy who works as a field medic for the US Marines. It was during a walk around UST with Kitch, Egan & Leigh that I shook hands with Lester, Leigh’s boyfriend at that time. He flew in for a quick two-week vacation with her around the country. They planned on getting married after a year. It was a whirlwind romance, to say the least. But a fruitful one at that. Leigh was even wearing a shirt that said “Lester’s Wife”. It made me squirm inside and I was hoping it didn’t give Kitch any ideas.
Photos courtesy of Egan.
Kitch told me about Lester and Leigh’s thing way back in college. Some sort of agreement was made between them. Now, I’ve been around long enough to see Leigh go through a bunch of superficial (for lack of a softer term) relationships, and they weren’t really that nice. This guy probably might be “the one” for her, I thought.
I am aware of the risks one take working around stray bullets, land mines, mad terrorists, etc. Thanks to years of playing Counter-strike, Ghost Recon and other tactical FPS games. I got worked up when he told me of the gadgets and weapons that have been issued to him on missions. He was living what I was only playing on my PC, somehow that made me want to join them.
Unlike these games though, in real life, you can’t respawn the next round after getting fragged.
This morning, Kitch called me up after taking her short-lived 2-hour sleep to say that Lester just passed away. His entire unit got ambushed by insurgents somewhere in the Afghan desert leaving Lester and another soldier lifeless. Leigh’s sister told her that she’s been crying since learning of the incident.
She asked me to go with her, but I realized that I wouldn’t have anything to do there while Kitch is consoling her. I could bring my PSP, but that would kill the moment. Besides, Kitch and I were supposed to meet up today for the dinner she owes me. I knew it was a selfish thought, and I wasn’t really in the mood (or position) to argue, so I let her go with her friend to Leigh’s place.
Back home while channel surfing, I realized how something so good could be lost in a blink of an eye. If I was in Leigh’s shoes, I’d probably feel the same way. Or worse. It took me awhile before the thought actually sank in.
Spc. Lester Roque, wherever you are, I hope you’re doing fine. May you rest in peace.
[UPDATE]: One of my officemates, Bob happened to be one of Lester’s classmates back in high school. His blog entry tells a different story about him worth checking out. There’s also Kitch’s take on this tragedy. Just recently, I googled a touching story from Lester’s father.
Here’s an article telling some of the details I’ve failed to mention here.
Thoughts