This is just one of those days when I didn’t mind waking up so early and riding the LRT. I mean, it’s Wordcamp day! And the first in Southeast Asia (though technically, Wordcamp came to Davao first, ahead by a couple of days)! Of course, I want to be there, even if sleepless and still tired from my own Oktoberfest last night.
I’m glad the venue was at CSB as it is a familiar place and easier to reach via public commute (well, at least for me). Also, it would be nice to visit Vito Cruz once again, after a very long time (even if I was almost run over by (of all vehicles) a pedicab, one of those that infests the side of the road near University Mall and I don’t even understand WHY they have to be stationed there). Reminds me of my DLSU days when I used to just walk around the corner, pigging on Tapa Queen at Tapa King when I’m to lazy to cook food in the apartment, and be a jeepney away from the nearest mall, Robinson’s Place (I’m particularly disheartened, though, to find that the place has somehow deteriorated over the years that I haven’t seen it. Honestly, it looked like more like a tiangge than a shopping mall, except for the Midtown wing).
I guess I wasn’t the only camper excited enough to come to the venue early. I reached CSB 10 minutes before 8 a.m. and there were already a sizable number of bloggers lined up outside CSB’s gate, having their IDs checked and their names ticked off from the list of attendees. I heard that some have been wondering a bit about CSB’s strict dress code (meaning, no slippers/sandals allowed and no extremely short dresses or any type of clothes that shows “too much” skin). And my only answer is that, in my 3 years of stay at DLSU (CSB is a member institution of De La Salle schools), I’ve learned that the dress code was implemented not to merely put restrictions on students’ freedom on what to wear in school or on their own fashion sense but rather, to simply teach them how to dress more appropriately, since they will be future professionals. And I agree, I mean, after all, it would look better if a student comes to school looking as if he had prepared for that day in school, both physically and mentally, rather than looking like somebody who’s been asked by his mother to buy vinegar from the store. It’s not being just pa-sosyal (although, of course, at times, one can particularly tell the rich, flashy ones from the average joes and janes), it’s simply a matter of dressing appropriately, considering the kind of place you’re going to.
I’m not really sure though if the dress code is still being strictly implemented, as I remember, back in the old days (oh goodness, it was such a long time already!), that as a froshie, I’m quite scared of pissing off Mang Jack (the very popular discipline officer in DLSU) so I follow the dress code but I did see several schoolmates, who wear their shoes coming to school and, after being allowed inside the campus, will change into their slippers, just wishing that they won’t run into Mang Jack during that day.
And so, stepping into CSB was like being sucked into a time machine. The place changed a bit but the place still looked like the old CSB that I know. And somehow it felt weird at first to be seeing bloggers in there. Hehe. But then, after a while, it felt quite right after some time because bloggers, whenever they gather together, seem to be as happy as young college students just having a regular day in school. :)
Campers having little chitchats while waiting for Wordcamp to start
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