It all started back in college. We were six in the group. No seven. I didn't expect the group to jell like that because I didn't expect anything at all when I didn't even like the course we got. 
We were sitting beside the university chapel under a tall eucalyptus tree. I never thought it was called eucalyptus since I only knew it to be a green candy mint which is always present in every sari sari store or cigarette vendors' stall. Yes, it was the eucalyptus tree and there we wrote the name of our group - the GONADS.
It is not about sex or pornography. Remember we were sitting near the chapel. We just happen to have happy thoughts about naming our little gang. A gonad, if you still remember your biology, refers to any organ that creates gametes (you know sperm or egg cell) and generally it refers to the testicles. Knowing that we all cracked in laughter. GONADS stands for Guys On Needs And Dependent on Sex.That was only a front so that one might think we were tough when it comes to sex and girls even though only one of us had a girlfriend.
We carved the name of our legendary group on that eucalyptus tree despite my knowledge that it will vanish in a few weeks because the trunk was almost herbaceous and soft. And who might have known about our group? Or more appropriately, who might have known we existed. We're negligible. That's what I mean. That was all for fun.
We didn't have a sort of leader but the first one that I’m going to recall seemed to have started our bonding.
Copia. That is a surname. College students usually call each other by their last name. So it was Copia. He was the brightest among the class when it comes to mathematics. But he was also the best cheater. He graduated as valedictorian in high school. He got himself a scholarship despite being in a state university with the lowest tuition fee ever (still the students wants to overthrow the government for tuition fee increase). He's a Christian. He likes local rock stars. He laughs out loud. He's the noisiest, i guess. It even made us all laugh, as if we had a crunch of Nagaraya, when I gave him a scientific name..... Copicus gonadium.
Chiong. Sounds like a Chinese name but later I learned there were many Koreans with that surname. But he was neither Chinese nor Korean. He is a very remarkable guy. He was my classmate in high school. He believes he was doomed and blessed when he was brought to the pilot class. He was well known for his curly hair which I first noticed to be water resistant when we had our swimming class. The swimming class sucks because we were asked to buy short pants and they didn't allow us to attend class if we don't have trunks. The class was a coed so we enjoy seeing the girls on their swim suit. I never learned to swim because I always came late. Chiong and I stayed in the swimming pool after the class and we competed on finding a coin underwater. When we got out it was cloudy everywhere. Not only that. We also played hide and seek and when one find the other he squirts water from his mouth to the other's face. When we were doing that I swam near someone with a swimming trunk with the same color as mine. Chiong found me and he swam towards my direction. While he's doing that I got out of the water and he spit all the water with that guy and when he saw it wasn't me, he just said, " eh hehe hehe". Chiong makes the group lively with his natural talent in doing funny things. He's intelligent though. He passed the mechanical engineering licensure exam after we transfer from another school because the college dean didn't accept his father's bribe to admit us in the college of engineering. Damn it. Last I heard of him he joined a religious group which enjoys exchanging bad words with another group. I gave him the scientific name Libidus mutatum. He's my best pal and we almost had the same school stuffs.
Xavier. I don't remember much about him although he was the one who brought us to Moriones to conduct an interview with the squatters for our Sociology class. I believe he was also involve in cheating during our exam in the same subject although the crumpled paper with the leakage was recovered 6 floors below didn't proved he did it. He was our classmate in the swimming class.
Dennis. That is a name because I can't remember his last name. He was the most silent among us. He was also good in math. So we had two sources for our answer, one was Copia. He was just quiet. Last thing I know about him is that he joined the militant student group that aims to overthrow every government and always conducts a noise barrage inside the campus which most students enjoy because all classes will be suspended. I believe he's not very quiet now.
Giovanni. He's not a gay. There was not much memory for him except that he was our group mate in our Biology case study. We went to manila zoo and took the boat ride. That was why I thought we were only six because I’m not sure if he was really there.
Glenn. He had that comical look of that guy who is Scooby Doo's friend. He just went to school everyday, cheated when needed and never missed funny things. He's as quiet as Denis. I believe I saw him when I was about to get a computer unit with my officemate near their place. He seemed to have forgotten me because we parted ways when I transferred to another university.
Me. Of course, like the devil I have many names. I was one of the leading students in all science subjects because everybody is bored in those subjects. I was able to please my Filipino professor when I summarized and narrated a local writer’s short story without knowing I just made the story myself. My other Filipino professor didn't like me for being late in her subject because I was talking about the universe with my high school dream girl whose class was on the second floor and mine was on the 6th. She remembers me as someone who manipulates my words to exaggerate my point though. I don’t know if that was a compliment or an insult. Anyway she didn't like me and I have this Jedi feeling she's not as happy as I am today.
We were sitting beside the university chapel under a tall eucalyptus tree. I never thought it was called eucalyptus since I only knew it to be a green candy mint which is always present in every sari sari store or cigarette vendors' stall. Yes, it was the eucalyptus tree and there we wrote the name of our group - the GONADS.
It is not about sex or pornography. Remember we were sitting near the chapel. We just happen to have happy thoughts about naming our little gang. A gonad, if you still remember your biology, refers to any organ that creates gametes (you know sperm or egg cell) and generally it refers to the testicles. Knowing that we all cracked in laughter. GONADS stands for Guys On Needs And Dependent on Sex.That was only a front so that one might think we were tough when it comes to sex and girls even though only one of us had a girlfriend.
We carved the name of our legendary group on that eucalyptus tree despite my knowledge that it will vanish in a few weeks because the trunk was almost herbaceous and soft. And who might have known about our group? Or more appropriately, who might have known we existed. We're negligible. That's what I mean. That was all for fun.
We didn't have a sort of leader but the first one that I’m going to recall seemed to have started our bonding.
Copia. That is a surname. College students usually call each other by their last name. So it was Copia. He was the brightest among the class when it comes to mathematics. But he was also the best cheater. He graduated as valedictorian in high school. He got himself a scholarship despite being in a state university with the lowest tuition fee ever (still the students wants to overthrow the government for tuition fee increase). He's a Christian. He likes local rock stars. He laughs out loud. He's the noisiest, i guess. It even made us all laugh, as if we had a crunch of Nagaraya, when I gave him a scientific name..... Copicus gonadium.
Chiong. Sounds like a Chinese name but later I learned there were many Koreans with that surname. But he was neither Chinese nor Korean. He is a very remarkable guy. He was my classmate in high school. He believes he was doomed and blessed when he was brought to the pilot class. He was well known for his curly hair which I first noticed to be water resistant when we had our swimming class. The swimming class sucks because we were asked to buy short pants and they didn't allow us to attend class if we don't have trunks. The class was a coed so we enjoy seeing the girls on their swim suit. I never learned to swim because I always came late. Chiong and I stayed in the swimming pool after the class and we competed on finding a coin underwater. When we got out it was cloudy everywhere. Not only that. We also played hide and seek and when one find the other he squirts water from his mouth to the other's face. When we were doing that I swam near someone with a swimming trunk with the same color as mine. Chiong found me and he swam towards my direction. While he's doing that I got out of the water and he spit all the water with that guy and when he saw it wasn't me, he just said, " eh hehe hehe". Chiong makes the group lively with his natural talent in doing funny things. He's intelligent though. He passed the mechanical engineering licensure exam after we transfer from another school because the college dean didn't accept his father's bribe to admit us in the college of engineering. Damn it. Last I heard of him he joined a religious group which enjoys exchanging bad words with another group. I gave him the scientific name Libidus mutatum. He's my best pal and we almost had the same school stuffs.
Xavier. I don't remember much about him although he was the one who brought us to Moriones to conduct an interview with the squatters for our Sociology class. I believe he was also involve in cheating during our exam in the same subject although the crumpled paper with the leakage was recovered 6 floors below didn't proved he did it. He was our classmate in the swimming class.
Dennis. That is a name because I can't remember his last name. He was the most silent among us. He was also good in math. So we had two sources for our answer, one was Copia. He was just quiet. Last thing I know about him is that he joined the militant student group that aims to overthrow every government and always conducts a noise barrage inside the campus which most students enjoy because all classes will be suspended. I believe he's not very quiet now.
Giovanni. He's not a gay. There was not much memory for him except that he was our group mate in our Biology case study. We went to manila zoo and took the boat ride. That was why I thought we were only six because I’m not sure if he was really there.
Glenn. He had that comical look of that guy who is Scooby Doo's friend. He just went to school everyday, cheated when needed and never missed funny things. He's as quiet as Denis. I believe I saw him when I was about to get a computer unit with my officemate near their place. He seemed to have forgotten me because we parted ways when I transferred to another university.
Me. Of course, like the devil I have many names. I was one of the leading students in all science subjects because everybody is bored in those subjects. I was able to please my Filipino professor when I summarized and narrated a local writer’s short story without knowing I just made the story myself. My other Filipino professor didn't like me for being late in her subject because I was talking about the universe with my high school dream girl whose class was on the second floor and mine was on the 6th. She remembers me as someone who manipulates my words to exaggerate my point though. I don’t know if that was a compliment or an insult. Anyway she didn't like me and I have this Jedi feeling she's not as happy as I am today.
After a year, without a word we all parted ways. The once unknown gang ended without a purpose, without achivement and without care.
That’s how it was and the little story about the legendary GONADS.
