Jump From the Air (Erudite Series #5)

Kapitulo 11

By Monday, I had found out five things about Kalon because we chatted throughout the weekend. Yes, he replied the day after Friday. Then, we got to talking about each other.

He had three younger siblings. The one that was bugging him was the youngest, a boy; his name was Radley, and he was seven years old. The elder ones were girls named Lauren and Diona. Lauren was 11 while Diona was 15.

Another thing was that Kalon likes listening to classical music. This was not surprising since I had seen a post on Facebook before saying he played piano and did some recitals. Ibig sabihin, his fingers moves delicately. Hindi ba gano'n 'yon? Kasi moving fingers on the keyboard must be swift but soft, right?

He also liked taking naps, like, power naps. Kalon said it makes him absorb whatever he's studying better. It was why he sometimes replied late to me.

'Tsaka muntik na siyang mag-aral sa Ateneo. Nagtapos daw ang Mommy niya ro'n, so he seriously considered going there. But he liked studying in a school near his house, so he chose UPM in the end.

The last thing I found out about him was that he had no girlfriend. I knew because I subtly asked him about it. He denied it and said he was too busy to date a girl right now.

At least, single. Okay na 'yon. If he had a girlfriend, I would erase my feelings. It's like, liking a celebrity even if that celebrity had a significant other was understandable. But liking someone you personally knew who had someone already was forbidden fruit.

I put him aside first and put my focus on class again.

Nasa economics class ako right now, learning about market structures.

"In a monopolistic competition, there's a huge number of sellers. These sellers are also the price makers, they lay down their products and prices. There are only a few barriers to this market's entry and exit. So, it's relatively easy to enter it and leave it," the professor said before she changed the slides.

I typed on my laptop whatever I understood from the lesson. On my screen were two things, the PPT of the lesson today and my notes. I didn't need to re-type what the professor was showing thanks to the PPT I had.

"An example of this? Clothing brands, like ZARA and Forever 21. Another distinct feature of this market is that the products are differentiated. So, even if we all know that ZARA and Forever 21 are both clothing brands, we don't say they produce the same things exactly. Yes, they might make jackets and tops, but the designs, sizes, colors, and whatnot are different. Everyone understands?"

Tumango ang lahat, kasama ako, sa sinabi ng prof. Then, she continued.

"Next, monopoly. Don't get confused with monopoly and monopolistic, okay? In a monopolistic market, the level of competition is high. But in a monopoly, it's low. This type of market also has a strong capacity to influence the prices since, most of the time, only one or two firms are competing to provide services or products in this market," prof explained.

The next slide appeared as the professor continued speaking about the topic.

I had learned about this topic already. I read the designated chapter of this lesson in the book. Ang pinaka-intriguing part ng lesson na ito ay ang monopoly.

Ang daming goods and services sa Pilipinas na monopolized. Iyong trains, madalas ang gamit lang ng tao ay MRT o LRT dito sa Metro Manila. Tapos, 'yong tubig din sa Metro Manila ay galing lang sa dalawang kilalang water service providers.

Malamang may iba pang brands of water or trains, pero bakit itong mga 'to lang 'yong gamit na gamit sa isang highly populated area?

It was weird in my head. May PNR, pero hindi na 'yon as used as the MRT and LRT. Tapos, 'yong tubig, alam ko talagang 'yong dalawang brands lang na naisip ko ang majority na nagpo-provide ng tubig.