Numerology is sometimes accepted as a "psuedo" science just like reading Tarot cards..:D..There is an upcoming movie which will star Shirley Mclaine as the psychic Sandra Browne,I think..Ms. Browne is a GENUINE PSYCHIC. That means she can read the future of other people, but NOT HER OWN FUTURE..Just like a doctor can treat others, but he can not treat himself..I believe in ESP, I believe in GENUINE PSYCHICS..These people are gifted by God with these powers...The image of Genuine Psychics are being screwed by Fake ones..:D..I will tell you a story, and this might change a line in my previous posting..When I quit UPCF, I did not receive my Visa approval yet but I did already my medical exam done by a Canadian Consulate doctor..But life in UPCF has grown so hectic due to internal politics that I decided to quit...So I packed all my things and went back to Asingan...Went back to the old hometown on March '75..stayed in our old house. My brod had already gone ahead to Canada, a month before(February )..I took the silong of our house where they stayed for several years while I stayed in Laguna...Our maid was an old woman from laoac. She said she knew some psychics in this barrio. I believe her because I think my grandma is one of them..But she is already dead when I came back to Asingan.. I had 2 kids already ( Miggie is expecting our 3rd ). Passing a medical exam by the consulate does not guarantee you a visa yet..I wanted to know if I will get one. ..Our maid said I will ask my psychic friends, they are good!She called them mammuyon.. ..I did not even tell her the actual question..Just ask the pyschics, I said:"Will my present plan be realized?" My maid went to Laoac in the am and in the pm, she came back.."My friends said YES..You just wait for 4 months.!" Here is the number 4 again..I felt slightly relieved and I tried to while away the days of terrible days of waiting and waiting by visiting friends in Asingan...After 4 months, came July 4, I received the letter from the Canadian Consulate saying our Visa was approved..This is not a cock and bull story. It really happened to me. 1 month later, August 30, we left the Philippines..Ergo, I believe that there are real psychics amongst us, it is just a matter of finding them..The psychics who predicted it did not even ask for any money in return...!

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Suddenly i started to count and tried to match numbers with my past. Just for fun i tried counting how many GFs i had. This time my magic number 10 fall short he he he. I am short by a point. Still lucky number though. So you were in Asingan sometime in the early 70's. Nagpang-abot pala tayo. I was first year high school when martial law was declared in 1972. You probably had seen me walking under the sun on my way to Asingan Community High School. We always passed by the front of your Hispanic inspired ancestral house. Most of the time we slowed down and take refuge under the shady acacia trees just accross your house.If you happened to notice a "lovely" couple under one umbrella, that's me and the number 1 in my list. She's long-haired with an angelic face. Don't know how such duo match, me being in the opposite category. We had this (mag-kapayong) going until she graduated and went to college in Manila. She's ahead of me by one year. I was in my senior year then when you left and migrated to Canada in 1975. Will try to recollect if such first love of mine is worth another posting, uhmm.--aLAKDAN

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Do post your stories, Alakdan because I am sure love stories are quite popular to readers or fans tele-novela series..And the most interesting ones are those that got away ( or we the male sex were the ones who run away..?..just kidding )..I could not get too close with the my first crush. I loved her to a passion, but she was 15 years older than me, ha-ha! They say first love never dies. This one died maybe after 10 years..Funny how we teenagers loved then in a setting that is Asingan..If they see you walking side by side, they would say you are already sleeping together ..I was in Asingan ( working for RA ) from 1966-68.. Just graduated from College and Mr. Amado Esteban offered me a teaching job. I accepted the job because number 2 was still in town ( I was starting to forget no. 1 )..THis time no. 2 is very much younger than me, I went to the opposite direction..:)..Geez, either too young or too old, hah!!..And there were still a few, the short lived ones, who happened to be there when I was in a rebound..:D...I do not feel embarrassed anymore first, I do not live in Asingan anymore, second, most of those who knew re: my early loves are either dead or have the Alzeimer's or are already abroad and they are not fond of opening computers, muche less going to AMB..Go ahead, write down a cursory account of your puppy loves..Hopefully, Icarus will follow suit..ha-ha-ha!!!

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( This is quite a long story to read but I just like to share it with all of you, young lovers of yesteryears, hehehe) **First Love*** I was then a 15-year-old, unassuming, and an easy going teenager. My social life was with my high school classmates and with my neighborhood friends. Girls were not in my mind and nothing excited me more than goofing at the beach of Lingayen Gulf or watching movies in the cinemas of Dagupan City. My high school was a rural, non-academic in curriculum and homework was minimal so I had a lot of free time... Going to church on Sundays was an obligation which was a habit that I acquired from my parents. It was on one of those Sundays in church when I first noticed a young girl in blue gingham dress walking towards the front of the church with her mother. For the first time in my life, I thought I saw a very beautiful girl. Although I’ve known her since she was seven and I was eight, she somehow looked like somebody new in my hometown... Ever since that Sunday, I started grooming myself so she’d take notice of me. I thought of her often during the day and she sometimes enlivened my dreams at night. Like most teenagers, I was inpatient and to satisfy my longing, I passed by her house every evening just in case I’d have a chance to talk to her. Occasionally, I would catch a glimpse of her inside her house, but nothing could satisfy me until she’d know that I existed... After a month of desperately wanting to be noticed to no avail, I gained enough courage to pay her a visit. One Saturday evening, I put on my best outfit and proceeded to her house but my attempt fizzled out when I saw their family car in the carport. Her parents were prominent citizens of the town because they were well schooled. Her mom was a school superintendent and her dad had a high government position as shown by the car plate license number... My family was modestly middle class and as a young boy I looked up at her parents as above my social level. Two weeks later, I noticed the carport empty so I hurried back home to groom myself, then plucked some roses from my mother’s potted plants and hurriedly went to her house that evening. Thinking that her parents were away, I knocked at her house door. With the porch light shinning bright on my face, the door opened with a big surprise. Her mother was smiling and greeted me as she was amused at the sight of a dashing young Romeo holding some roses. I stood frozen as my whole body temperature shot up and my fair skin could not mask the blushing of my face. I could feel beads of perspiration rolling down my forehead but her mother was very nice and quick to calm down my anxiety by inviting me to come inside. Without hesitation, she announced my very presence to her daughter. She conveniently left the living room and her daughter sheepishly came out and noticed my flushed complexion. I handed her the roses and all I could say was “how are you?” because my sight was fixated on her without saying any word.. She did the talking, trying to calm me down from my embarrassment. Fifteen minutes was all I could bear. The heat all over my body and my unease made me suffocate so I decided to bid her goodnight. I went home extremely happy for feeling like a winner, having hurdled the first inning... The second and succeeding visits got me accustomed to her very nice mother who was understanding and very entertaining. For my part, I planned the topics on what to talk about so I could impress her and also make an indelible mark to her mother who was a smart. Valentine’s Day, February 14 came and during the dance at her school she gave me her valentine heart pin, a pin that I kept like a million dollar souvenir. At the end of the school year, I graduated from high school and was accepted at a University in Quezon City. I impressed her mother and she told me that she attended the same school and wished me good luck. Before I left for college I told my friend that I liked her and I’ll miss her dearly and I‘ll always think of her. She replied with a smile and said that she’ll also miss me... College was tough for me, the experience was a payback for not being trained in high school. I managed to write her once but the pressure I encountered with the likes of College Algebra, Chemistry, College English were so overwhelming that I had to work double time in order to catch up with my classmates and avoid being kicked out of the school. I stopped my correspondence with her with the thought that I would see her when I’d go home during the semester and Christmas breaks. To my surprise, I was disappointed to find out that her parents had moved to central Philippines because her mother was transferred to a new office... In the meantime, I met other girls whom I developed some fancy and after graduating from college, I ended up working for a company in Pasig. I occasionally visited my hometown but she was nowhere around during my visits and our path didn’t cross again until I was about to leave the country to immigrate. It was during the town fiesta dance at the auditorium when I saw her as a full bloomed lady, lovely and beautiful as ever. She was surprised as I was to see her and I invited her to dance. I complemented her that she was pretty and she smiled and whispered “bolero”. I didn’t pickup what she meant, whether it was about what I said or what I did, but after the music as I was walking her to her seat, I asked how life was treating her for which she replied that she was getting married the following month. I was dumbfounded but I managed to congratulate her. She introduced me to her fiancé and that was the last time I saw her because I left the Philippines soon after. Twenty years later during my visit to my hometown to celebrate the golden wedding anniversary of my parents, I met her mother again and we became good friends, corresponding regularly until she passed away. I found out that her daughter had moved to America where she raised her family.---a rEADER

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When I was in high school, my friends and I would have a beat on who can collect the most numbers of Valentine pins during the Valentine dance. It was our simple way of knowing who among us was the most likable boy. We did it in other high schools in town where we were not familiar with the girls. In this way, the power of persuasion was based only on the way we presented ourselves. --a rEADER

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