I Survived Ondoy

Hi everyone!

First of all, thanks for all the prayers and support that you have given to all the victims of Ondoy. Although I have been in contact with a few batchmates thru text, this is the first time that I have read all the emails since the flood. Our landline and internet have just been restored today.

As I have told Joey, no need to worry about me. Aside from experiencing my very first flood at home, and the various damages in appliances, furniture and electronic equipment, I am very much alive. And that is what matters most.

If you are interested to read my blow-by-blow account of my personal experience during the Ondoy Floods, I have written quite a lengthy piece here: http://isurvivedondoy.wordpress.com. I reiterate that it is quite a lengthy piece that I wrote during breaks of our clean-up operations. So you may need to allot some time to be able to read the whole of it, hehehe. I also wrote it for myself in case I would want to revisit that fateful experience and remember the lessons and realization it brought to me.

Again, thanks for the concern, prayers and support. I am truly glad that I am a part of this brotherhood.

Long live K88!

Happy Easter!

lifted from Jobet Lara's email dated 4/22/09

Happy Easter Rigmarolers!

It's been more than a year since I was diagnosed with cancer and started my battle against the disease. With all your help especially through your prayers I was able to confront the challenges and eventually won the fight. My latest CT Scan result shows complete remission of the cancer cells earlier detected all over my body. I'm healed.

The good news came on Easter Sunday. A brand new life, a brand new start. Prayer works!

Except for some 'interstitial infiltrates' found in the upper lobes of my lungs (which could lead to tuberculosis) and gallstones in my gall bladder, I'll be ok. I developed the 'infiltrates' and gallstones as a side effect of my chemotherapy treatment. But its more manageable and more predictable compared to cancer.

I'm so anxious to share the good news to everybody and somehow share hope to our family, relatives and friends who may be in a similar condition I've just been through.

Thank you very much.

Jobet Z. Lara

Farewell for the mean time, but see you all in 2013

(lifted from Joey Manalad's email to the egroup)

With anxiety and excitement, I wish to bid farewell to all K88 in the Philippines. My family and I are set to leave for Melbourne, Australia this June.

After our successful 20th Anniversary celebration last February chaired by Jeff Sulit, we have already taken steps to formalize and legalize our organization through the Kumbento ’88 Alumni Association, Inc. Thanks to the following incorporators who joined me to have our organization be formally recognized by the Securities and Exchange Commission:

Arnold Martinez
Jeff Sulit
Jay Ravalo
Rey Munsod
Gilbert Gatchalian
Peewee Ligot
Jun Lara
Regan Bernabe
Andrew De Guzman
Jay Cruz
Cocoy Del Prado
Erick Cruz
Dennis Palacio
Noel Acosta

I bequeath unto Arnold Martinez the chairmanship of our activities to celebrate our 21st Anniversary. Let us thank him for accepting the task of not only keeping us together this year but also initiating efforts for our group to start the much needed funds for our future projects – the culmination of which will be on 2013. Cocoy Del Prado shall be his co-chair. Part of our 2008-2009 activities is the currently running 2nd Season of KBBL. Thanks to Chunky Ramos for unselfishly spearheading this. May we keep the championship trophy this season.

Farewell for the mean time, but see you all in 2013!

Cheers and long live,

Joey

Huggable Is Back

by Erick Cruz, K88 Yahoogroup moderator

What can I say? First things first this monday morning...

He was once forced to leave our group....
He was once forced to contemplate on his feelings towards our brotherhood....

But, he is nonetheless a true blue blooded K88 member....

And he is BACK!!!

Let us welcome with lots of hugs our dear Huggable Hernan!!! - who seems to be the only one who still knows the lyrics to our alma mater song

Kumbento 88 at 20 - A Cause For Brotherhood

lifted from Jeff Sulit's email to our yahoogroup

Mga Kasama,

Nuong Xmas gathering last Saturday kina Jay, nabangit ni Jun "Little Drummer Boy" Lara about the current medical condition of one of our batchmates.

We have been planning since Feb this year about a flagship project for our 20th year. There were suggestions for scholarship grants to a charitable organization, scholarship for some of our batchmates' children, outreach programs, and electronic scoreboard for the PCC gym. But unfortunately, nothing has been decided on until last December 21, 2007 during our Christmas Party.

I would like to suggest that we share our blessings to the person nearest to our hearts, our batchmate. I think it was not coincidence that these planning and meetings were discussed but rather this purpose was meant to materialize in the perfect time. Nothing in my opinion is greater, more genuine, and pressing than the cause for our batchmate, Jobet Lara, who needs our help right now.

At first, Jun intended to post this immediate and sustaining need of Jobet but decided to let Jobet share his condition regarding the matter.

As you can read in his email, nahihiya siya to post this himself kasi medyo matagal na rin siyang walang contact to most of us. Sinabi ko sa kanya na it doesn't matter since everyone of us is a true kumbento boy and a part of the brotherhood of batch 88 (graduate man o hindi).

In his behalf, I would like to call the attention of those connected or who has connection to pharma companies if we can help him out with the drugs he listed below. And at the same time, those who can offer financial assistance and even prayers or whatever help we can give to please extend it to him at his time of need.

Salamat at mabuhay ang ating kapatiran. Nothing has been decided on, so we knock on your kind hearts to help or pray for Jobet.

Long live K88,

Jeff Sulit


Jobet's Response to Jeff's Email:

Hi Jeff,

Thanks for bringing that up. Medyo nahihiya kasi ako at more than 2 decades na tayo di nagkita at baka di mo na ako kilala. Nabanggit nga ni jun na tinatanong mo raw details ng medical condition ko and about the treatment I am undergoing. na-diagnose ako last November may stage 3 hodgkin's disease ako. Lymphoma or cancer of the lymphatic system. May cancer ang mga kulani ko sa katawan which makes me vulnerable to all kinds of other diseases. Sa biopsy di nakita kung saan ko nakuha sakit pero baka genetic daw. basta alam ko na abuso sa katawan ang cause ng lahat ng klase ng cancer. I lost 2 aunts and 1 uncle to cancer. Sabi rin ng Oncologist ko baka namana ko raw sa kanila ang sakit. Pero di ko na iniisip kung saan ko nakuha sakit ko. Iniisip ko na lang na lalabanan ko sakit ko at gagaling ako at malalampasan ko
ang trial na ito sa buhay ko.

I need to undergo 6 cycles (12 sessions) of chemotherapy and I was given a 90% chance of survival. Di naman grabe stage ng cancer ko dahil naagapan ko rin. So far tapos ko na 1 cycle or 2 sessions. So far, favorable ang response ng katawan ko sa mga gamot. Lumiit na mga bukol ko sa katawan. Lumiit na bukol ko sa leeg, sa dibdib at sa magkabilang kili-kili. Tanda mo ba kami magkambal na naglalaro ng pingpong sa kumbento before? Kasing laki ng pingpong ball ang bukol ko sa magkabilang kilikili ko before. pero thank God nawala din. Di na ako masyado inuubo (I have a small swollen lymph node blocking my trachea right at the opening of my wind pipe). Every night pag nakahiga ako grabe ubo ko. Di ko lang alam situation inside my body. Affected din kasi liver, spleen, pancreas and diaphram ko. The CT Scan showed scattered sesame seed-like growth on my liver, spleen, pancreas and diaphram. Nakakita ka na ba ng palitaw na may budbod ng linga? korean beef stew? Ganun itsura nila.

I still have 10 sessions (5 cycles) of chemotherapy to go. Di masakit ang treatment, masakit ang gastos. I need P25,000 every chemotherapy session, P5,000 professional fee for my doctor, P15,000 for the chemo drugs, P5,000 for the use of the chemo room, gadgets (oxygen at anti-allergy drug... may allergy kasi ako sa isang gamot na isinasaksak sa akin) machines, and other medical supplies. Every 2 weeks ang schedule ng chemo session ko. Baka naman pwede ako matulungan ng batch either maghanap ng source ng chemo drugs ko na mas cheaper or sponsor any or all the chemo drugs I'm using.

Eto list ng drugs na isinasaksak sa akin every chemo session:

NASEA
DOXORUBICIN
BLEOMYCIN
VINBLASTIN
DACARBAZINE

Pwede ba kayo na lang mag-post nito? Mas regular kasi kayo nagkikita ng batch. Medyo nahihiya ako. I hope and pray sana matulungan ako ng batch.

Attend ako ng next gathering ng batch kung hindi ako groge sa chemo session ko.

Thanks & Regards to your family. Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Jobet

Huggable Hernan Hunsubscribes

There has been another victim of the "unsubscription syndrome". Huggable Hernan decided to unsubscribe from our yahoogroup last week after an event concerning the privacy of his email address.

Now, this is just the kind of thing that we do not like to happen. The primary reason for us having the e-group is for us to keep in touch with each other. And once you unsubscribe, the connection which easily links you to us is lost.

Our group is a mix of so many different personalities. And we surely have differences in opinion. We can disagree about certain points (and we certainly have disagreed about many things in the past). But always remember that we can disagree without being disagreeable.

I hope Hernan realizes soon enough that life at kumbento88-B can be terribly lonesome.

Homepage of the K88 Rigmarolers

Welcome to the homepage of Kumbento88!

Finally. A homepage for our batch.

What started out as a short email list during the mid-90's, it eventually expanded into our present yahoogroup mailing list. And now, this blog-style homepage.

Home of the K88 Rigmarolers.

For those who were not yet updated with the group when the term "rigmarolers" was coined, and are wondering what-the-heck "rigmarolers" mean, here's a brief backgrounder.

The yahoogroup of K88 served several functions for our batch. It was a bulletin board for announcements, a repository of jokes and other forwarded materials (thank God we have somehow managed to filter out the not-so-desirable forwards, well, uhm, at least, most of the time), a discussion group for topics ranging from sports to finance to what-have-you, and inevitably, a forum for arguments which has unfortunately led to the "unsubscribing" of some members.

With that said, we can say that the yahoogroup was open to discussions about anything and everthing under the sun. And in one of those discussions, our ever-vocabulary-rich member, Gary D, mentioned the term "rigmarole". Of course, the wise-ass members in the group would not let this slip that easily. And so the jestful use of the term "rigmarole" was born.

Merriam-Webster defines rigmarole as follows:

Main Entry: rig·ma·role
Variant(s): also rig·a·ma·role
Function: noun
Etymology: alteration of obsolete ragman roll
long list, catalog
1 : confused or meaningless talk
2 : a complex and sometimes ritualistic procedure

And with the opening of the first-ever Kumbento Boys' Basketball League, we used the monicker "Rigmarolers" as the name of our teams (one of which by the way, eventually came out champion, just in case you didn't know).

And so again, we welcome everyone who has been part of our batch. Even if you didn't get to graduate with us in 1988, even if you have been a part of our batch for just a single year, we urge you to join us. No ifs, no buts. You are one of us. Let us live the brotherhood of the Kumbento Boys.