Genesis

I was born on a cosy, cold night on March 10, 2006 in Magatas, Sibulan. It was 5:30 pm that
time and my mom started to feel the pain that I was about to be born. Father and with the help
of mother's siblings quickly rush her into the Provincial Hospital Dumaguete City. We still
lived in Magatas, Sibulan however my father decided to move to his aunt's house which is
still in Magatas, and lived there while she was out abroad in New York. I go to school at the
Asian College, Dumaguete City. I live with my father Jonray; my mom Jocelyn; my sisters,
Dolly Jane, and Jeanelle, and the youngest one Jillian Kate. I was born as a younger brother, I
was the first to drink the milk that was expensive enough to be brought with my parents. An
example of this is the Infagrow Plus, according to my mom this particular milk made me love
Mathematics. My sister Dolly Jane and I are classmates at daycare. To make all things more
sense I am the eldest, mom let me move to Kindergarten while my sister was getting back to
being Day Care.

Who am I in life?
My name is John Lennon B. Forneza, I started school when I was five years old. I went to
Day Care through sixth grade at Magatas Elementary and while I was there, I won an award
for being in the top 3 in 1st and 2nd grade. I also won an award for being the most honest in
3rd grade. Then I attended Sibulan National High School, and there I was also one for perfect
attendance. I am now a senior at the Asian College of Science and Technology, where I
received an award of With Honor. I plan on finishing school and maybe going to Negros
Oriental State University. While I was in middle school at Sibulan National High School, I
was an Altar Server at St. Anthony de Padua Parish Church. There I have served since 2018
and right now I am still a servant. Being an Altar Server is a big part of my life, for it is the
only one who taught me to live my life to the fullest with the Heavenly Father. It also taught
me to be mature and serve God unconditionally. Altar Servers have the honour of assisting
the priest during the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with the greatest reverence and respect.

Childhood Period
In this period, when I was 5 years old , I ate yellow rice. It was the first time that I tasted that
particular rice, it was different from other rice. The smell, taste, and texture of it make it so
unique however nevertheless it is rice. When I was 7 to 10 years old, I always went to my
cousin's house and played with her and his neighbours as well. We played different childhood
games, jumping over a cow, hide and seek, knocking down the can, and many more. We also
build houses at my cousin's house, we build the imagined house like an engineer. We sell
different things by using the imaginary money which is the leaf. When it is 3 in the afternoon
we go outside and play with our neighbours by knocking down the can (tumbang preso).
While we were playing, I was about to get the slipper that I had thrown to knock down the
can, and I stepped on a broken glass. I was so speechless at that time because that was my
first wound that bleeds too much. That was my first trauma of playing that game in a grass
field without checking the place out. Afterward, my uncle quickly gets a climbing vine
( hagonoy ) to put in my wound. Moreover, hide and seek is one of my favourite games when
it is nighttime. Moreover, I still remember that evening, it was the birthday of my aunt who is
the elder sister of my mother. That night after we had our lunch, my cousins and also the
neighbours joined the group. After deciding what game we're gonna be playing, we start the
game by choosing the seeker by playing rock paper scissors. Afterward, we had the chosen
seeker, it was my friend chandy. He turned his back and started counting while we started
finding places to hide. As the match goes by, one of my friends who is frightened of being a
seeker turns to be a seeker. As he started counting to let us hide, he then gave up and went
home knowing that we were all hiding seriously. After just about an hour of waiting till he
saw each one of us, one of my cousins confirmed that he just run away for being a seeker and
go home. We are so disappointed and just laugh about it, because if you would just imagine
we are getting bitten by hundreds of mosquitoes just to hide properly. Meanwhile, he just ran
away like a scared dog and didn't even tell someone that he wanted to stop the game and go
home. That was the funniest experience of my childhood ever, more on that is my cousins on
the side of mother and I are meeting each other.

Childhood Period: Nostalgic

One of the most nostalgic moments that a child like us would ever experience is the different
trend games. The examples of this are marble (jolen), turumpo, teks, “dampa”, and spiders
fighting. These trend games were played during recess time, and others played during their
free time if their teachers did not meet with them. While playing with these different trend
games my most nostalgic one is the “teks”, I experienced when my opponent was a short-
tempered guy. I was getting yelled at because when he loses the game when I am about to
stop having a rematch, he is pissed for being lost and doesn't have the amount of rubber
bands. As a humble guy and getting scared a little bit, I directly accepted his offer which was
a rematch. There we play a long game until I am the one who is getting lost and slowly losing
my rubber bands too. I just let it happen because I was getting hungry and my mom was
waiting for me at the canteen. There I realised that losing and giving up your material things
makes you a different person. Moreover, “teks” is also part of our favourite trend games in
Elementary days, because we have these achievements of who has the highest piled “teks”.
Other students use these tricks to be popular, while others impress them. One day, after my
class in the afternoon and I am about to go home, one of the bullies challenged me to play
with him. And I replied, "Aight bring it in". It happened so fast when I was about to win and
his "teks" were slowly losing. After the last match, I quit and excused myself because it was
getting late and I had to do my chores at home. However, while I was walking he always
annoyed me with a rematch to make things fair on his side. After a while of getting bothered,
I accepted its final challenge and humbled myself to lose the game. It was a tough match
because he was so pissed off getting lost in the first place. After a few matches, I nearly gave
up all my "teks" and lost the game getting home with one "teks" which was my candidate.
Furthermore, the game that is fun to make but quickly fades into a trend in school is the
"turumpo". Because of the dangerous tip of its body, there is a nail that helps it spin and it
makes it so instantaneously fade in the list of trend games. One day there's this boy who
played "turumpo" for the first and the particular "turumpo" that he had just bought from a
bully guy. Just then, after he prepares the "turumpo", he smashes it on the ground leaving the
yarn on his hand and the "turumpo" on the ground spinning. After it spun he got the
"turumpo" he got another try, after he smashed it the "turumpo" landed on a surface that had
a rock on it so the "turumpo" hit the rock and bounced like a ball and landed on its head.
Luckily it is not the tip of the "turumpo", it is just the body. After that incident, he rapidly
quit playing that particular game and sold its "turumpo".

Childhood Period: Elementary time

When I was in 2nd grade, my adviser was teacher Polio. I had this crush that I've fallen into
for almost a year. Since we were classmates at first, I got this feeling like I was about to
express my feelings for her. Until one day, I have the guts to tell her. It was morning when it
was nearly recess time, our teacher heard rumours about me falling in love with the same girl
that I have now. She announces it to the class and questions my best friend who is my crush
in the classroom. Then my best friend quickly answered her question and pointed out who it
was. After he pointed out who my crush is, my world suddenly filled with shyness and
unexplained phenomena that all I could do was hide under the desk. That particular time, my
secrets were told and I am in complete silence after that incident. The girl who inspired me to
go to school as a child just went like a bubble, and after that, I couldn't talk to her normally.
Furthermore, at the time when I was in 4th grade, I had this crush that I was so crazy about
until one day when our class had a practice about the hip-hop dance. We had it blast, we
danced so hard that even I went crazy and showed him a few of my moves. Students were
cheering and had romantic excitement when they saw my crush looking at me at the window
of her classroom. Then later on after the practice, I left her a love letter and it was the first
ever letter that I had given to a person I love. The same day I got a response from my crush
also in the form of a letter but this time it was an apology letter, written on the front page
saying, "I'm so sorry". I'm in total shock already anticipating the heartbreak she will be giving
me through this paper. The letter goes like this, "Hi Lennon, it's been a while and I saw you
lately showing your moves in front of my eyes. You had good moves, and I understand the
message of it. But let's jump to the point of why am I giving you this card, I just want to
apologise for giving you hard feelings about what I will say. I'm so sorry Lennon but I didn't
see the love that both of us had, but maybe in yours we had but mine... none". And those
words hit me thinking of my mistakes and gaps, what part did I lack in giving her. I mean I
did my best, but I think it is not enough for her. Later that day, I already changed my mind
about getting attached to her anymore and decided to not talk to her anymore.

Junior High School's time

Before enrolling in middle school, I was preparing myself and planning where to be. After a
few testimonies from my cousins who are enrolled in that particular school, they finally
decided to enroll me in Sibulan National High School. Afterward, when it is enrollment day,
together with my cousin she helps me fill up the forms and wait for the result. One week
later, I finally got the results and I am now officially a student at Sibulan National High
School. Each of us had this feeling of being ready to go to school even if it was a month or
weeks away, and I did this after we bought our school supplies. Then there it is, I am in 7th
grade. First day of class, I was very shy and introverted at that time because I didn’t have a
friend when I entered our respective classrooms. Until such time when the class started, there
were these guys whose names were Rhenz and Myles who considered me like an old best
friend. They greeted me using the word "Bro" which means brother. After the morning class,
it was lunch break, they were looking for me just to be with them in exiting the classroom.
Until such days, we get attached and comfortable with each other. We share snacks and every
piece of our money if one of us doesn't have any. We consider each other like brothers, and
no one will ever leave each other even if we move up to the 8th grade. We play different
games, but the most favourite of ours is the "takyan". We also laugh at each other at the flag
ceremony especially in the school hymn, shouting the loud part of the lyrics. Comfort each
other if one of us is hurt by different kinds of feelings and emotions, especially in our
crushes. Furthermore, when it was in the 3rd quarter there was this girl who had a crush on
me. And I was not gonna believe it, because I am just a boy who enjoys life with my bros.
One day the girl confessed through her friend and asked me if I was single, and I replied yes
because who knows maybe she is the one. And time went on when suddenly she just told me
in front of me that she had a crush on me. My bros were shocked and helped me decide, and I
responded not now because I stay focused on my studies. Months passed by when she
discovered that someone also had a crush on me and her friends told her that I'd been chatting
with her. After she found out, she immediately broke up with me and asked which of them I
would stay with. And I quickly respond I don't know. After the class, the friends of my
second crush asked me if I would stay with her or the other girl and I responded to her.
Weeks passed, it was finally settled and I am back to being focused on my academics.
Moreover, until we were in 8th grade, me and my bros were separated by sections, and lucky
for us my best bro, which is Rhenz, we are classmates. And so when COVID-19 hit, it
affected our schedules of classes. It stopped and waited for COVID-19 to slowly vanish.
Until we are in 9th grade we are still classmates, and it is a modular period. We shared
thoughts and most likely answers whenever we didn't understand each question. And in 10th
grade, we still do the same strategies, until the time has come that face-to-face is back. My
bro and I finally met and told stories about their experience during the pandemic. Months
passed by, and it was the day when we would graduate and move into senior high school. It
was the saddest and happiest part of our high school life, we shared our last goodbyes and
lived the best of us. Taking pictures for the best memories. Additionally, when I was in 7th
grade, I attended the marching band to represent our school. In October the Negros Oriental
had an event called Buglasan Festival, and they have a competition for a Marching Band for
every school that is in this region. Before the competition, our Marching Band group had a
blast of practising every night after our class. One evening I was in the church serving when
suddenly I remembered we had a practice. I quickly rushed to go to school to practice after
the mass. And told our proctor that I was so sorry for being late to our practice, I was so
worried because maybe he would remove me from the Band. But no, he comforted me and
invited me to get my drum and practice. Weeks before the event started, we were so excited
that we had a rehearsal at the area where we were gonna execute our Band. Afterward, we
went home and rested for the upcoming final day. Until the day came, and we played with
excitement, and with all our hearts we enjoyed the moment. And when the result came up, we
were so thankful to our Heavenly Father for allowing us to be a 3rd placer. That was the best
moment of our life to experience such a thing that all our sweat paid off, and all thanks to our
beloved and patient proctor. When I was in 8th grade we also attended the same event and got
2nd place, it was so lit and likewise, we thanked the Heavenly Father for guiding us and our
proctor. We celebrated our win through a party and enjoyed the moment.

Lessons in Life
One of my sources of life lessons is the mistakes that I have made. The mistakes and hard
choices that I have made on my journey, and the decisions that I made. Over the past years,
the mistake that gave me the best lessons in my life was when I was scolded by a priest for
being clumsy. They gave my friends who are also active servers favouritism, and I don't. The
attitude of giving all your best but doesn't even notice it, because they only saw the worst part
of you. All the sweat, pain, restless working, tears, and tiredness of serving, none of them
were noticed. And all I can do is pray to the Heavenly Father and give all of this to him. I
didn't serve the priest, however I assisted them and the only one who I am serving is the
Heavenly Father. Offer him all the sacrifices and restless serving.

Maturation
I found myself being mature through mistakes that I will be taking lessons from. The
mistakes that all my clumsiness has made. The realisations after every step and decision that I
made. It was all worth it to think about because trials, sacrifices, and problems that I
encountered were ways to improve my capabilities to handle things in a balanced way.