Ivan's Story

I am Spongebob Squarepants. I live in a pineapple under the sea. I love jellyfishing with my best buds, Patrick Star. In the afternoon, I often go to Sandy’s to do some ka-ra-te! After that I go to the most glorious place beneath the waves, the Krusty Krab where I create the most deeeelicious Krabby Patties. Occasionally, I also have time to spend with my heroes, Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy. Then, I come home to my own sweet Gary. My everyday is a super-sailorific, sun-shiney day!

HOW I WISH THIS IS MY STORY! :-P

If you were disappointed to know that you weren’t going to read a happy and really exciting story about a quadrilateral sea sponge, I don’t blame you. But to you who want to read about happily ever after’s inside a twisted story, then, be my guest and continue reading.

Spongebob's life is perfect but Ivan's life is beautiful.

You can smile now. :)

I am a boy, who grew up from the simple yet sweet provincial land of Bulacan, and no, it’s not a valley where crops are grown everywhere and our houses are still bahay kubo. It is, to an extent, an urbanized town, which sits next to Valenzuela City. I was born in a crazy family. I have my parents, who are doctors, my four siblings, who are all achievers in their own fields, my aunt, who is also a doctor, and my grandparents who are well-known professors in their time. Having this kind of family has its perks like getting to visit a lot of different places and people will give me special treatment as a kid, knowing that I’m a part of my family. And then there was me. As a kid, it was very hard (As in, very hard!) for my family to send me to school because I didn’t want to. I didn’t like the idea of being separated from my home sweet home. And as I grew up, it was engraved into my mind that I was the one from the five who wasn’t smart nor good-looking as the other four. This kind of thinking pushed me to prove the statement wrong. Though I can’t do anything with what I look, I begin to strive hard in my studies. And yeah, it paid off. :] I got rewarded with medals and certificates, but for me, they really didn’t matter because the only thing I’m wanted was to prove to myself that go out of my shell also and excel like my siblings.

A tragic day came upon my young life when my grandmother died of colon cancer. This event created a big impact in my life because this was the first loss in my family. At 5 years old, I was already exposed to the concept of death and it happened to someone very close to me. T_T My grandmother was my nap buddy in the afternoon when everybody was still at work or school. She is very strict yet very sweet, too. Her loss created a big period of sadness in my life as a grader then. You may call it “emo” or “madrama” but I was really depressed then. Up to now, I am still bothered about how OA I was as a kid but I didn’t think it was over-acting then. Making my Lola proud, wherever she may be, was a big motivation for me to study better than ever before.

Then came high school, the period when you experience the peak of the roller coaster of hormones. Since I had my classmates from Grade 1 to Grade 6, I think I know them very well from the epidermis to the bone marrow. And when you know someone that has a great personality, great looks and attractive brain, I mean, intelligence, you can’t help your endocrine glands to start releasing those “love” hormones. I was a big, foolish victim of my own hormones. I strived hard in my studies. I tried to be cool. (Yes, I’m not yet that cool. Stop judging me. :P) I did a lot of things for her. I was her slave. And it was all for love.  I believed that I finally found THE ONE. (I was in puberty, okay. Hormones. Can’t fight the feeling. :P) All the while, she had a different thinking. And from there, it was down hill for me. Contemplating on heartbreaks was never really my thing. So what did I do? Right! You guessed it. I strived hard. I cleaned up my act. I joined the choir. I loved the choir. I fell in love with music. Everything I did after the heart break was not to make her regret breaking my heart and wanting me back (I’m not that desperate! :) )but it was to make her accept the reality that I can also be happy without her.

With every little thing that happened in my life, you can say “What a big baby you are! You needed different kinds of push in your life to motivate you to achieve.” Well, for that time, yeah, I needed those pushes. But now, getting to see all of these tragic twists of fate, I don’t need them anymore. And more importantly, I DON’T WANT THEM ANYMORE! NO MORE TRAGIC EVENTS, PLEASE! :P I can see that the only motivation needed by a big fat boy is the big fat boy himself.  No more push from outside but now that I’m in college, I just can’t wish from the heavens some motivation. I must be the one to push myself. Push lang ng push! :)

I just needed the push. Just not on the slide.

I am Ivan Arthur Decano. I am currently a student of the University of the Philippines. I have the cravings for chorale music and the passion to save lives. I am the youngest yet biggest among us five. I still believe in happy endings, true love and Santa Claus. I may not have the Spongebob life that I wanted, but I got the life that I needed. I may not always realize it but the things that I really want in my life are just at arm’s reach. I just need Ivan’s push. :-)