Table of Memories

It's another Saturday again! Ang bilis, end of Jan na. And it's been a year and a month...happy monthsary, hon.:)
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Anyways, I'm just happy I rediscovered a treasure in the form of my study table. It was one of those foldable types that served more as a tall bookshelf and planar surface to draw (well, when I was a kid) in our house rather as a study table. Ever since we extended our house to accommodate a lanai and an extra bathroom, I had to move my study table from my room to the hallway since a door was installed in place where the table used to stand.

Just a couple of days ago I really had a hard time reading my reviewers and taking down notes on index cards all while sitting on my bed. I needed a table so bad, and...well, there was no suitable table left in the house.:( I even brought my reviewers to the office just so to take advantage of the table and adequate lighting there.

Anyway, I'm hoping since I already resurrected my table, mas makakapag-aral na ako. This makes my review closer to reality, I guess.

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My study table must have been with me for probably two decades. It has always been a big, focal point in my room. When I was younger and harbored dreams of giving my room a makeover (but having no budget to start with), I always started out with moving my study table, since it was the biggest and bulkiest thing next to my bed in the room. At one point, I even tried stuffing my black and white tv inside one of the compartments of the table, thinking that it was my own private entertainment center. In my teens, I could hardly remember any occasion where I used the desk to study, but it served as my drawing table, proven by the marks left by pentel pens.

Aside from tv, it has contained my "office" paraphernalia (pens, scissors, staplers, etc.), certificates, encyclopedias, a wall clock, photo albums, piggy bank etc. Cleaning it earlier made me realize just how many various things I've stuffed in there at different times in my life. One compartment held my grade school artwork, while another contained my kindergarten coloring books, first ABC books, and early grade school stuff.

Going through all my childhood things made me so nostalgic. For example, my mom used to diligently sign my kindergarten diary while my adviser wrote the things I was supposed to do for the day. What surprised me was finding stuff I'd written myself in 5-year-old kid's handwriting. I thought I was such a slacker when I was a kid (or clueless) that I was rather surprised to find that I've written down homework and other tasks to do.

Another school diary made me laugh. In the portion of the diary where one usually writes down contact numbers, I've written the names of the people in my family and my friends. What was unusual about the list is that I actually subdivided my friends into GOOD friends and BAD friends. And, I listed mostly boys under the 'bad friends' category. Oh my gulay. What was I thinking?! I'll get cooties from mingling with guys?!

I also have books in my study table which I feared. Well, most of them were my mom's. We had a copy of Modern Medical Guide, printed around the time I was born, and it had descriptions of every known malady at that time, complete with graphics! It had pictures of sores and lesions and...well, you get the picture. When I was a kid I really had a hard time browsing the book and I would give me unnecessary nightmares of the illnesses featured in the book.

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Anyway, many other memories of summers of artwork and childish games, essays, and school books simply had gave way to give space for my other architectural books and more grown up literary fare. Fiction I used to enjoy as a kid (ie. Nancy Drew paperbacks, SVH stuff) were stored underneath the chair that comes with the table, and Sesame Street book set were put elsewhere so I could "proudly display" my Timesaver Building Types book. I cleared out the area underneath the built in lighting cove a bit so I'll have space to put my review materials and of course, enough light.:)

I saved the school diaries and autograph books from yesteryears and a few of the reading textbooks that made an impact on me as a kid. My Nancy Drew hardbound books jostle with my copy of the Lord of the Rings and Building Design and Construction Handbook. The stuff I decided to store in my study table are testimonies to the kind of person I've evolved to be through the years. And now, aside from it being a repository of things sentimental, it will actually serve its purpose of being a study table. Full circle, huh?