blast from the past

What happens when a group of 40-something women who went to school and grew up together reunite and volt in? Chaos. Fun.Giggles. And, of course, a lot of reminiscing. All these take place when girls of any age get together for some kita-kits. And true enough, these had taken place (and more) during preparations for our high school grand alumni homecoming when the girls of SMC Batch ’85 mused over our many childhood (mis)adventures.

It was during these moments of reminiscing that I realized how much of my childhood I was starting to forget. So with all the powers of Aphrodite A that I could muster, I tried recalling tinee winee details from my childhood.

In school, I remember going after the flock of tutubis (dragonfly). The “keep off the grass” signs were ignored as we, grade school students, scampered and went after these poor creatures who had no idea little monsters would soon pluck them from their playing fields and make toys out of them.

Pinoy games enjoyed during lunch break were patintero, agawan base, pick-up sticks and jackstones – none of which I was good at.

I also recall going to the nearest sari-sari store to buy coke or colgate. As I recall, any carbonated drink was referred to as coke, toothpaste was commonly called colgate and refrigerators of whatever brand were called frigidaire. My callout to the tindera at the sari-sari store usually went like this:

Me: Pabili po! Pdeng colgate…yung Close-up

Or

Me: Pabiliiii! Pde po chiz curls? Yung chippy

Or

Me: Pde pong coke...Pepsi

Voltes V, Mazinger Z and Charlie's Angels shown every Friday, Wednesday and Sunday, respectively, were my favorite TV shows. Gulong ng Palad ran for several years and I identified with Flordeluna.

Nora Aunor was the Superstar then and was at the top of the showbiz game. Ate Luds (Inday Badiday) was then the Queen of Intrigues with her popular (i think the only) showbiz talk show See True where Alma Moreno was said to have been interviewed that went like this:

Ate Luds: Ness (Alma), what can you say about the violence na nangyayari ?

Alma: Ate Luds naman, piano nga hindi ako marunong, violins pa?

Personally though, I think Melanie Marquez takes the cake with her quotes:

"Eto na po ang pinakamaligayang pasko at manigong bagong taon sa inyong lahat."

"Kapatid ko pa rin siya. We are one and the same."

"I won't stoop down to my level." (yeah, me too!)

Today, the tutubis seem to have gone extinct and a playground with swings and bars inhabit the lawn where we used to run after and torture these poor flying creatures.

Kids now go "huh?" when agawan base or patintero is mentioned. They're now glued to their PSPs or Gameboys, thus making them socially inept (my opinion only).

Coke now is Coke and Pepsi is Pepsi but they now come in varieties such as Light or Zero (for Coke) or Max (for Pepsi) and sari-sari stores have gone sosyal and are now called variety stores.

Topping the cartoon charts are anime shows Gundam, Naruto, Pokemon while popular TV series are Glee (my favorite), the teleseryes and Korean telenovelas.

Kris Aquino is now the reigning Queen of Talk...Show. And now there's not just one star but there's the Megastar, the Star for All Seasons, the Diamond Star, the Falling Star (Kris Aquino again). I wonder...is there a Shooting Star?

And of course, the most famous quotable quote these days is no longer an Alma Moreno comeback or a Melanie Marquez one liner but ..."major, major!." (I still think Melanie Marquez tops 'em all)

So what are some of your childhood tidbits?