angelie, anyone?

I've always thought that having a name that 19.7% of the total female population own is so not cool. But I discovered yesterday that it being not cool is in fact an underestimation. As far as the past week is concerned, I do not only find it uncool. It's also a temper wrecker and a paranoia-trigger.

Rumors have been going through the ears and mouths of just about half of the trainees in the hospital where I'm also having my duty as one. We have about 10 batches (more or less 400 trainees) currently on deck. About 5 batches in am, and 5 in pm with three trainees from each batch per unit. The cheesy information that has spread faster than the h1n1 virus has goes like this:

" Alam nyo bah, sa Ehem Unit, may pabibo daw. Bossy daw sa ibang trainees. feeling senior."
" ah talaga?ano'ng name?anong batch?"
" Di ko alam kung anong batch eh"
" ano'ng shift?"
" di ko rin alam eh. bastah ahn-je-li daw ung name"
" ay gnun?"

Of course, I wasn't aware of it at first because my mother happened to register me in the local registry as THEA ANGELIE D. BRAGA sometime in 1986. How in hell would the people tell me when I probably be the one they're talking about?

Then a colleague from the same unit where I'm in, also bewildered by this chism, approached me last wednesday. She speaks Bisaya so we kind of had a very good chance to talk about anything without the others knowing what we're chismising about. She started our conversation like this (in Bisaya):

"Gel, diba geli tlga twag sayo dito?"
"yup. bket?"
"may nkakakilala ba sa'yo as angelie?"
"oo. marami.bkit?"
"kc ung kbatch ko, narinig si *toot* sa elevator. sabi nya, naiinis daw tlga xa ke AHNJ. eh d nya alam, may kbatch ako dun n ksama nya. eh diba ako lang nman ung ANG(pronounced as ang as in ang tv. ang tao) dito?"
"eh anj ung sbi nya so di tayo sure kung sno kc preho tayong angelie."
" pero feeling ko ako kc d kme close ni *toot*"
" eh d rin kaya kme close."
" xa lang ata ung d close saten lhat dibah?"
" bka nman nhihiya lang mkijoin"
" dko rin alam. bhala xa. bstah wala akong gnwa sa knya"
" bka nga hndi ikaw"
" ewan ko. kc ang sabi anj eh."
"eh d ka nman anj eh, ang ka."
"eh bka d nya alam pano pgpronounce"
"hay.kalimutan na lng muna ntin. mwawala dn yan"

I just shrugged the idea off for some reason until our post conference happened. A batchmate told me about the rumors that she heard in their unit. She was the one who heard the "alam nyo ba?" conversation above. She said she hesitated to inform me because she was afraid. Judging from her statement, I knew she was pretty sure that i was the subject of these blahblahs. I can't blame her, i'm the only angelie that she knows. I can't blame my batchmates either coz I'm the only angelie that they know. To make the matters more exciting, my name is angelie and I go on duty five days a week in Ehem Unit.

When I returned to the unit, I told Ang that it might be me. And then we thought about it and realized that in fact there are four of us in the unit bearing this very COMMON name. One in AM shift and three in PM shift.

#1
First name: Thea Angelie
Name written in my name badge slash ID: "GELI"
batch : 12

#2
First name: Angeli
Name written in her name badge: "ANG"
batch: **

#3
first name: Angelica
name written in her name badge: "SHINE"
batch: $$

#4

first name: Anjeli
name written in her name badge: "ANJELI"
batch: &&


I know I'm not supposed to be heavyhearted coz I really have this great working and friendly relationship with most of my co-trainees (except for a very few). If I'm bossy or whatsoever, I'm pretty sure they won't be laughing or telling crazy stories with me , or grabbing me for dinner or telling me that they want to be my buddy (modesty aside). The thought of me having a really great deal of time with them reduces my worries but the fact that my name is ANGELIE still makes me wonder if I'm the one that these people are talking about or if these people I consider friends have two faces. hay..

Whatever, whether they do or they don't, I still love being with them and I'd continue enjoying what we're doing everyday: having fun while on duty.


*ehem unit - a general unit with 15 trainees from 5 different batches
* toot - a gurl from a batch who's also in ehem unit.