Congrats, Len...

The card from Len, one of my good friends from college, made this week end on a high note.

Yesterday, her greeting card from Oz finally arrived but it was only this morning that I opened it. (I have to find the right moment for opening personal letters, greeting cards, presents, whatsoever. By "right moment," I mean no distractions whatsoever. I want to give the card or whatever it is my full attention when I open/read it. Yeah, I'm weird that way. Haha!)

Anyway, I read the really, really NICE surprise when I took the card out of the envelope.

On the cover was a beautiful baby girl that was being embraced by a humongous teddy bear. I thought, "Oh, how cute!"

When I opened the card and started reading, that's when I went "Oh my gad! Oh my gad! Oh my gad!" LOL! OA ba?! But really, in my head, I was going "Oh my gad!" more than three times.

The cute baby on the cover of the card is Len's. Reading the short but sweet message, I learned that Len did not only become a mom, she also became a wifey.

I was totally not expecting that kind of news, but I'm definitely happy for her.

Galing mo, Len, for keeping things under wraps for a loong time, ah. I didn't have the slightest clue even if we have constant communication via FB.

Congrats and super happy for you!!! And thanks for making me a Ninong. Awww!!!

Dindin with the Inocians...

I swear I love Facebook. I love the Internet. I love Facebook.

Thanks to Mark Zuckerberg and his team of geniuses, I was able to reconnect with classmates from grade school, my altar boy days barkada, and my college friends.

Not to be mushy, but most of the friends I have made in UP are the most important people in my life, or at least people I really care about. Usually, we hear people say that friends for life are found during high school. Not for me. It was during college. It was at the University I will always love.

And thanks to Facebook, I was able to find treasured friends.

Last night, Tey and I met up with a blockmate whom we haven't seen for the longest time - Tsin. She was our classmate for only a semester, but that one semester was more than enough to cement our friendship for a lifetime. Haha! Mushy!

Anyway, the reason why Tey and I met up with Tsin was because another classmate (and another friend I love to death), Charmy, saw some of the dresses Tsin is selling and wanted to buy a few pieces. Thanks to Facebook (again!), Charmy, who is now based in the US, was able to easily contact me and ask me to get the dresses for her from Tsin. A couple of phone calls, mouse clicks, and taps on my phone keypad, the meetup was scheduled.

I can't remember the last time I saw Tsin. My last recollection of seeing her was at the College of Fine Arts canteen a million years ago. So again, thank you, Facebook, for reconnecting UP Manila’s Orcom Block 11 Batch 2000 once again.

We met up at BHS, and headed to Friday's. Her husband, JC, joined us for dindin. I thought they’d bring the adorable kiddies with them. Saw some of pics of the kids and they’re really adorable!

For a couple of hours, we just talked about college and our classmates, and what's been happening with each other's lives. Definitely good dindin time.

Later tonight, I have to bring the dresses to Charmy's house. Her Dad and sister fly to the US tomorrow. I have to pass by Via to get one of the dresses, since Tsin wasn’t able to bring it with her.

Lagare ito. Haha! But I’m really happy because I get to keep in touch with my UP gang.

30-Day Tumblr Challenge: Day 10 — A photo of you taken over ten years ago

Here's a photo of me taken some time in 1997, I think.

It's me with my Orcom blockmates from UP. I think we were waiting for our Humanities professor. I still remember this room. It was our little Little Theater. It's 302, I think. It's the room beside the Department of Arts and Communication of Rizal Hall! Haha!

Back then, digital cameras were still expensive. What was still "in" back then were the cameras that used the APS (?) film, I think. Haha! So if we had the urge to camwhore, it's either someone should have brought a camera with film (and hope that the photos will turn out just fine after processing. Either that or we go to a studio (Great Image!!!) to have our photos taken. Hehehe!

Gawd, it's hard to believe that it has already been more than 10 years since we last walked the halls of our revered building in Padre Faura. And most of us have changed. Some are married. Others are with kids. Not too long ago, we were worrying how to pass our Math 11 exams. Now, we're worrying about how our kids will pass their Math exam. Hahaha!

What's funny, because I almost did not go to UP. It was either UP or the seminary. Seriously. I thought I didn't pass and I was ready to join the Claretians. Then I found out I did and my father put his foot down. The rest as they say is history.

In addition to the lessons that I have learned from my respected professors, one other important part of my UP life was the friendships I built with my blockmates. Up to now, I am still in touch with almost all of them. Thanks to Facebook, we became even closer even if some of us are already living in other parts of the world.

I got to say that the four years in UP were among the best in my life. I've learned so much from that university, and most of who I am today is because of what I learned there.

Salamat, UP Naming Mahal!

Energizer bunny weekend... Part 2

From a night of partying in Malate to a 10K run + breakfast at the Fort to a couple of hours of sleep, I headed to Gateway on Sunday afternoon to get some items for the Christmas dinner with UP friends Ella, Gino, Tey, John and Ela.

Gateway was crowded with shoppers. I didn't like the crowd at all but I had to go there to buy gifts for the gang for me and Tey. Plus roasted chicken for the Christmas potluck. I headed to Rustan's to get gifts for the gang. I didn't bother to ask for the nice Rustan's wrapper because I knew how long the giftwrapping line gets around this time.

Then I went to the supermarket to get the roasted chicken of Rustan's. When I got there, surprise, surprise. No chicken. There was one left but it was the saddest looking. So I leave Gateway and head to the nearby Shopwise. That's where I found my newly roasted chicken.

There was another customer who was also getting roasted chicken. I let the person order first. I was so wrong to have done that. The person started asking all these stupid questions to the guy behind the counter, "Which chicken is bigger?" "Are those newly cooked?" Hello! Teh, magbebenta ba sila ng hindi sariwa? Kainis! Hehe! Thankfully, the guy replied in the most boring manner. Haha!

When I'm finally done with my errands, I waited for Tey to pass by for me and then we headed to Ella and Gino's house near ABS-CBN.

It's always a joy to see this group of friends. We always have a good time reminiscing about our college days, talking about work, issues in life. Hehe! That night, the topics ranged from the presidentiables to work stuff to Kuya Ef to Ondoy experiences to Ela's access to fantastic SSI sales. As in super fantastic.

The food was super. Roasted chicken from Shopwise. There was frozen brazo which John and Ela got from a store I forget. Hehe! Gino cooked a super yum mechado. There was nachos with good salsa and spicy cheese dip. Ella did a really cute table setting. The choco balls on shotglasses were nice.

After stuffing ourselves (eeep!), we just spent the next few hours chatting. Mel was supposed to join us but she got stuck at a family reunion. Tsin, on the other hand, had a very hectic sched. Oh well, next time.

We bid each other goodbye a little before midnight. From QC, I hitched a ride with Tey to Makati. Jimmy was leaving for Ilocos and I had to give him his gift and my gift for Noel. We just hung out at the hotel lobby talking about vaca plans and looking for flight and bus schedules to Ilocos. Hehehe!

I went home around 2AM. Had to get up for work in a couple of hours.

It was a really tiring weekend, but I didn't feel the fatigue because I had such a good time with people I love.

The Faura people get-together...

Finally, the get-together with Len and Faura friends pushed through.

It was supposed to be last Friday, but because of the rain and crazy schedules of people we had to resched.

Thank heavens and Mr. Manalo that Monday was declared a holiday so that gave us an opportunity to see our dear friend who'll be leaving again for Oz in a week.

The get-together was arranged as early as Saturday. I messaged Ella to ask her about work-related stuff and that led to me messaging other blockmates to tell them about the hang out with Len.

Fast forward to Monday afternoon, there in that really nice restaurant Fely J's at Greenbelt 5, a bunch of people who crossed paths with each other back in 1996 spent several hours catching up.

Present were Lovelynn, Thea, John, Ella and hubby Raymund (also our batchmate from UP) and of course, our balikbayan friend Len. Rey later joined us. No shows were Leah and Christy.

Over fantastic Filipino lunch, we talked about almost everything - college days, relationships, kids (my gosh, kids!), our classmates. It was my longest late lunch I think - four hours. Hahaha! Good thing Fely J's wasn't that crowded in the late afternoon.

Btw, it was my first time to dine there and I must say the food's really, really good. I particularly liked the dilis rice, the spring rolls, the Thai chicken curry, and the tequila chocolate cake. Yum!

From Fely J's, we walked to nearby Chili's to continue with the chismax. We got a pitcher of strawberry mango margarita (which is really great) and carried on with the stories.

The group parted ways around 9PM. I'm not sure when the next get-together with people from Orcom block 11 of 1996 would be, but I hope it would be very soon.

Maybe another classmate from abroad will be in town. Hehehe!