OK, so maybe you were expecting we stormed the Death Star or something. No, this is NOT a scene from any "Star Wars" movie, it's more like a flashback to one day last month when the new batch of JI writers were brought forth to meet and be "trained" by the "masters."

Jedi, este, JI training

	WACKY AND SPUNKY is how we describe JI's new batch of correspondents. (From left) Stanly Galo Sy, Aaron Mamiit, Nico Miguel Garcia, Louella Yu, Gabriel Doller, Diyosa Espina (not visible), Diwata Espina and Jeiflyn Dizon (not in photo).

The day began roughly at 9 a.m., when the so-called "troopers" started arriving at the second floor of the Rebel Alliance Headquarters, ay oops, PDI building. Hehehe. We were cheerfully greeted by the ever Force-guided Ms Marlet (a.k.a. JI editorial assistant Marlet Salazar: now you know how she can be so organized), who gave all of us name tags. Though groggy and still sleepy, we all managed to introduce ourselves to each other with the coaxing of "Darth" Christine, or Robin, or darn-whatever-she-wants-to-be-called (Inside joke there: kasi she kept saying "darn").

There are eight "new kids on the block" but unfortunately, one of us (Jeiflyn Dizon, 12, of Miriam Grade School) couldn't make it, maybe due to a schedule problem or was it because she was on a trip to Dagobah to train with Yoda? Hmmm . . . the possibilities are endless, but we're all sure she's fine.

The "troopers" who were most absolutely present were Diyosa Espina of St. Anne de Beaupré; Aaron Mamiit of La Salle Greenhills; Gabriel Doller of Ateneo de Manila Grade School; Diwata Espina of UST High School; yours truly, Louella Yu of Immaculate Conception Academy; Stanly Galo Sy of Xavier School and the unforgettable let's-whack-him-on-the-head-but-let's-not-because-he's-so-cute kid, Nico Miguel Garcia of Southridge. Our ages are 12, 12, 11, 14, 13, 10 and 9, respectively. Note: ages are in normal years, not LIGHT years.

All shy and nervous at first, we were all assigned to interrogate, I mean, interview each other. Soon, everyone was comfy . . . Let's forget the shyness and move on to what they did next. So, after that, "Lord" Nats discussed basic rules of being a Jedi writer, oops, JI writer . . . going with the "try not, do or do not" theme. Hehehe. Then, after lunch--which was around the time Nico, er, forgot his shyness (could it be the caffeine in Coca Cola?)--we all took a tour of the PDI building, led by the two, yep, you guessed it, "masters."

The tour was all amusing since we got to see most of the departments of the newspaper offices/staff and how they drive themselves crazy, oops, I mean, WORK. Hehehe, that was a joke, please don't take it against me. The part that was most fun was when we got to have our pictures taken. A photogenic group were we. This was also when Nico, started praising and worshipping the equipment (i.e. "All hail, scanner. All hail, computer.") . . . a very amusing sight, really.

The Millennium Pantry

So then we all headed back to the Millennium Falcon, ay, pantry, where we had a few lessons from "Darth" Christine/Robin and met the past generation (a.k.a. some of the first JI correspondents).

Soon after, we all got to know each other and the past generation shared their views about what the new generation wrote in their short writing exercise. All hail thy knowing ones!!! They've surely taught the younger ones a lot, even in that brief discussion. Then, the past generation were given their certificates and introduced to the new generation while the new generation was also introduced. It was definitely a great day for both generations and their mentors.