Almost, but not quite.

Almost done, just a little less than a week left. I have a finance paper to finish, a finance topic to finally, FINALLY report on, and an actuarial exam to take. I'm not taking these three seriously, however, so I might as well be done. A clear proof of my nonchalance is that I have finally returned to the Heroes of Might and Magic map I've started working on a few weeks' back, the one which involved me and my roommates on a quest to fight the evils of The World Beyond.

College is ending. It's inevitable. We're not even going into the home stretch, we are already in the home stretch. I just had my first job testing (Bank of the Philippine Islands) a week ago, and that's a clear sign as any that I have finally come to the clearing at the end of one path, and the start of another. The experience in Makati was enlightening to say the least. To see all these people wearing coats and long-sleeved shirts and shiny black leather shoes was one thing, but to actually see myself wearing them was another. I remarked to Joey as we sought the BPI office: "Malapit na tayong maging ganito." Numbingly exciting.

Another obvious sign of the impending end of college was the Ateneo Mathematical Society despedida party I attended awhile ago. The lowerclassmen prepared some videos and notebook dedications to the graduating batch, and while it didn't create much of an effect on me (not being active in AMS had its certain disadvantages), their efforts were commendable, nonetheless. Again, the whole event brought home to me the inevitability of graduation. Perhaps it was the first time since getting all worked up about graduation that I felt a certain pang of sadness with the idea of finally leaving Ateneo. And with good reason. Ateneo wasn't (isn't) just a university for me, I actually lived (live) here. It was (is) my home. As I've written in my dorm yearbook profile: "What makes a dormer a dormer? The Ateneo is your backyard."

In a few weeks, Ateneo will be my backyard no longer. Even as I anticipate the next wonderful home, Ateneo will always remain with me. Cheesy as this may sound, it has always been the case for every Atenean, whether they recognize it or not. It has always been the case, and always, ALWAYS, will be.