Here’s a repro of the article I wrote for the March-April 2009 issue of Mensahe, Mensa Philippine’s bi-monthly newsletter. Post writing, it occurred to me that as new members Mensa Philippines, we may not feel the impact of being a member of this prestigious International organization yet but as petty as this may sound, adding the mention under “affiliations” on my résumé has already made me feel all giddy with proud delight. Read along.

Pornography: Read With Caution (R-18)

Author’s note:  the title may not actually have anything to do with the main article. Proceed with caution.

More than the want to understand why I’m “different” and the subconscious need to be among “like-minded” individuals, I took the Mensa exam to help a friend spread the word about the November 30, 2008 Mensa IQ Challenge held at Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street, Taguig City. If it weren’t for the request, I would never have made time for it because, one, I knew nobody from Mensa Philippines (did not even know there is a local Mensa organization) and, two, IMHO, Mensa exam schedules have a reputation, at least for me and my overly active imagination, to be as elusive as the most brilliant, most cunning black ninja: they’re there, we just won’t see nor feel them. I never heard test were regularly given locally until the fateful week of November 15, 2008 (so, yes, we can’t get prepared even if we wanted to because the week for me had been horrible, day job-wise, and the night before exam day was spent partying with co-examinees. The setup goes to prove we are carefree, hardworking, and brilliant: in short, perfect. /gloats).

November 15, 2008 came and to my mind, I’ll do this sleep deprived and looking all shabby just to get it over and done with. Deep down inside, though, since I have from high school wanted to ace this exam so bad, not passing it would mean that my hyper-mind is worth nil and my short attention span won’t have a backup alibi, taking off from the premise that only geniuses are given license to be psychologically unstable. I tell myself that most of the time to make myself feel better about my shortcomings but feel free to adapt it as your personal mantra, fellow Mensan (LOL).

The exam itself caught me by off guard with me occasionally going, “are you kidding me?” and only much later did I find out that my co-examinees were thinking the same thing. As characters would in TV shows, films, and graphic novel/comic books, I pseudo-clapped, half-rubbed my hands onto each other as a gesture of satisfyingly finishing a daunting task. It wasn’t easy but it wasn’t so bad, either. Time constraint was on to us like a witch with a mono-syllabic nickname that starts with “B” and rhymes with “witch.” I called the time for the group and when it came to the last 15 seconds, I had to guess the answer for the last question. Tests could not get any more cerebral than that, I thought, and I verbally expressed that I felt raped soon after.

Around two weeks after, when I had already given up all hopes of getting word that I passed since everybody else got their results from the mail already, the mailman came bearing the letter that became the centrepiece of a week’s worth of gloating and half-meant one-liners that either mentioned IQ, Mensa, genius, or their mix and equivalent. Below’s an example:

“Excuse me, guys. I’d have to cut this convo short because I have to meet with my new found posse comprised of molecular biologists and astrophysicists for tea. See you tomorrow!”

Hella annoying, I know but my friends are used to my brand of humour.

It was not until January 24, 2009 that I and Mensan Bloggers Coy Caballes, Winston Almendras, and Jehzeel Laurente got to meet the fresh batch of “fellow” Mensans, hot off the November 30 grill, for the Induction Ball held in the Alchemy Bar in Pasig.  When they said that Mensans have an age range of 4 up to infinity, they weren’t joking. Anton (age 11) is a living example how young Mensans could start.

Passing at the age of 24 (OK! Alright! I’m lying! *sheesh*, quit throwing sheep at me already!) got me thinking. Did the universe conspire to not let me know of Mensa exam schedules in order to do humanity a big favour? Seriously, I could have used this as material for years’ worth of ironic and half-meant puns which could have saved me the debacle of being branded as humourless/tacky all this time! OR… maybe, it happened for a greater purpose: to teach me humility, though infinitesimally small on impact because, surely, people who know me personally would beg to disagree. Right, humility (snicker).

What happens next for us and Mensa Philippines will greatly depend, as Chris Tan had mentioned during the Inauguration Ball, on how we decide its fate to be. Do we let ourselves drift apart or do we correspond, agree on meeting again just for the heck of it, maybe just have coffee and not really get to know each other better, get to know each other better, and maybe, hopefully, come up with something worthwhile/for a good cause, as starters. I had, at 20, been under the impression that I already have enough friends and acquaintances to last me a lifetime but as I progressed in wisdom (aka grow old and wrinkly, gross LOL), I realised, heck, I’ll never tire of hearing another’s story, albeit in passing. I’m sure you have an interesting one to tell. I heard really good ones, some from people I’ve only met once at unplanned circumstances. So what’s it going to be, fellow Mensan? Let’s agree to take this further, shall we?