In Lieu of the Temporary Internet Freedom There is Permanent Blockage

(In which lucky are those who own laptops.)

***

For the past two months (or was it three?) everyone in Wonderful Academy enjoyed unrestricted browsing of previously blocked websites. But the absence of restriction has always been spoiled by the slowness of the internet connection. But if that’s the price we have to pay for having the next best experience to unlimited and liberated browsing, that’s fine. So we didn’t complain, at least not that much.

Just today, the academy was hushed by a slow yet sure progress. The time has come. We are never so naïve to think that everyday is a sunny day in the online world with the fact that we are in a corporate environment. But aware though we are, the immediacy of the action caught us by surprise.

The maintenance cum messenger grabbed my arm and led me into an empty classroom. Looking in her eyes and seeing the nameless expression on her face made the moment feel as though the demons have risen to shower the earth with evils of all kinds. And that our survival rests on our being discreet.

“It’s blocked,” she hissed; her expression still hard and focused.

“What?”

“Facebook. And Youtube.”

Actually I don’t care about those two websites. All I care about is that Yahoo Mail and Blogger be safe from the eviction. I made a sigh of relief within me.

“And they’re now thinking of blocking Yahoo! as well.”

“WHAT!?” I almost shouted. It’s my immediate reaction after she burst my bubble.

“Sshh!” she covered her mouth with her index finger. A signal for me to stay quiet. Oh no.

There was a silent monster creeping in the academy. In the background were news of negotiation and a betrayal scheme. Amidst all these I was quietly praying that I’ll be able to post this draft on my beloved transparent floral blue template using my office computer.

Well. I’m sure there are other ways.

UPDATE: Cheers, jumps and shrieks! Blogger is saved!

OMG!

(In which there is a downpour of weird and shocking things.)

***

I wasn’t able to blog about it but our dog has been sick for more than three weeks now. He refused to eat most of the time and if you’re lucky to make him find the food interesting enough to be eaten, he will just take several spoonfuls and that’s it. He even refuses to eat dog food. We took him to a vet for a checkup but we were not able to afford the laboratory tests. We bought the prescribed medicine for his fever. He used to have nasal and eye secretions. Now he has less eye secretions but he still jerks and refuses to eat. But we’re still thinking of ways to make him well. I called the Philippine Animal Welfare Society to ask if they can help us. The person I talked to said Doggie could have been suffering from Canine Distemper based from the symptoms I told her. Canine Distemper is a highly fatal disease which makes me feel really terrible. No one needs to tell me that I should do something if I still want Doggie alive.

So I entered the class with the telephone conversation still fresh in my thoughts. But I was able to get to teacher’s mood after a while. There was an instance when my student and I were talking about Korean cuisine and I mentioned a former’s student’s comment. She then fell silent and told me after a while, “There was a bad news.”

“What?”

“Your former student went to Australia, right?”

“Yes. He went there last November.”

“His cousin told me he disappeared”

I looked at her, trying to figure out what she just said. I might have looked like a deer in headlights then. Oh no! She isn’t telling about kidnap, is she? So I asked her.

“He was kidnapped? Was anyone asking for money?”

She just looked at me. I instantly understood that I might have used a new word to her so I wrote it down. She looked up for its meaning on her electronic dictionary and exclaimed “Yeah! Kidnap! Oh my god! He was kidnapped!”

And the last time she was told about this was three weeks ago. Poor boy! My last memory of him was when he sent me a gift with a letter in it thanking me for my patience and saying that he owes what he is now to me. (Awwww...)

When our class ends, I went to my room still troubled by the news I was just informed about. When my hands touched the keyboard, my fingers automatically typed the address of a familiar website and I saw something that made my heart go Crack!

OMG! Indeed!