Standing at the farthest point of the MRT Cubao station, northbound, I seized the opportunity of backtracking what has happened to my life during the past few weeks. It was not long until Alex, one of my high school classmates, and the only one I managed to tag along (READ: on short notice), came by. Minutes after, we were on our way to Anton’s debut.
It’s a family tradition, starting from his eldest sister… his sister, Maan, followed years after. He thought it will end there. Then, his older brother was put on the spot. He was given a 21st birthday party. I was present in all of those events, except for the one for ate Shai, it was still during grade school (I think) and we weren’t really close friends back then… not exactly enemies.
Alex was still same old, same old. He seems to have a databaseful of stories he could relate my stories to. He was one of those who never had a dull moment. I thought I could keep up with him in his Lola Basyang act… but no. I was spacing out in minute-long intervals… my attention was cut in half between watching the TV and listening to his stories… Haha. I bet I could take Knowledge Check exams on both.
I called Anton while we were on the bus, he said Remi and the others got lost somewhere in Pampanga. Great. And to think that Remi was from Pampanga… sheesh.
Chef Anton… bwahahah :)
10PM. San Vicente, Paombong, Bulacan. We made a grand entrance to Anton’s place. And it was the latter part of the program. A few years back, Kuya Arvin was a King… this time, Anton was the Chef. Everybody was staring… I can’t say I didn’t love the attention. I didn’t escape fate… I was this unknown visitor who suddenly, out of nowhere, gave a 4-sentence speech for the debutante.
Group with “Tha Chizkeyk!”: (L-R) Patcholo, Dave, Egan, Eins, Bry, Anton, Me, Remi, Alex, Reyan (I think. Hehe)
After a few photo ops, we were gulping down beer like there was no tomorrow. Attendance: Anton - the debutante, Egan - my so-called long lost brother, Bry - Egan’s girlfriend, Eins - the dancer, Patcholo - the only gay friend we have albeit partly denies it, Alex - the Lola Basyang incarnate, Remi - the reckless driver turned tanggero killer, Dave - the seafood addict, Anton’s cousins, and me - the master of untimely entries.
I thought it would never end. Come 5AM and everybody was already sleeping with alcohol written all over their faces. 7AM, Anton came to the room and tried to jolt our already wasted bodies. The attempt was futile. He came back few hours after with a pitcher of leftover beer and forced us into drinking a glass each.
The morning after…
Hangover was suprisingly quick. We were having lunch when I noticed the mural of pictures pasted all over one side of their veranda. Their were of Anton’s. I noticed a familiar picture, I saw myself amidst those kids who had to be forced to smile on a class picture. We were classmates right from the beginning. I suddenly lost my appetite, or at least half of it… I can’t say no to a bowlful of Kare-Kare and one of the best bagoong recipes in the world.
2PM. We dropped by the Barasoain church on our way home. Everybody took out their digicams and Egan borrowed a 10-peso bill from me, it was only then that I realized it was the same church on the bill. I thought they were looking for the cat on top of the church… haha.
Things change, people change. We, on the bright side, grew up.
Thoughts