j a n s e n. i. s. m.

Last
night, I had my pre-birthday celebration with friends at Rosaliz (same place we
had dinner last December). Rodel, Jane, Anne, Judie, Jhoy and Wewe were present
and it was less formal than the previous because we were sitting on wooden
benches this time. It was outdoor with nice cool acoustic music and the
soothing sound of man-made water fountain on the background. I thought that
ambience was awesome.

I
am not really into big birthday celebrations. In fact, I never had a birthday
celebration at home where I invited friends to come over since my 7^th
birthday. But I’ve always wanted my birthday to be something personal. Last
night was indeed personal, although a bit disappointing that a few friends
weren’t able to come. I thought it would be the perfect chance for us to be
complete again but the disappointment didn’t stop us from having one great
night of reminiscing, catching up on each other’s lives and having fun in the
spirit of my birthday celebration.

I
actually prepared a birthday speech (told you I like it personal!) and read it
aloud (without microphone) to my friends after we’re done with dessert.

—————————————————————————————————————-
“As
always, I am the first person in the group to turn a year older and I have no
complaints turning 20… Ok I mean 23 as long as you don’t start calling me
Kuya… please don’t.

Looking
back to the journey from 22 to 23, so many things have happened in my life. I
got my first job in the city and actually had my anniversary at work recently. I
was able to earn my own money– support my family a little and spoil myself
more. Yet despite of it all, there’s still one thing I still terribly miss– my
friends.

I
miss sitting with you in class especially in Micro lab or Physics lab, where I
get a full view of each of you unlike on a regular classroom. I miss taking
lunch with you and the argument that comes before it on where we will eat
lunch. I miss vacant periods– the flower box we used to sit in, the library we
spend time reviewing for exam. I miss going home with you– saying goodbye to
each other before we ride the bus, or when I’m not fine with someone there
won’t be any goodbye at all.

Really,
I just miss myself being with people I am most comfortable with and I realized
that when you say you miss someone, it’s more powerful than saying that you
love them — because you love them even if you don’t see them.

Tonight,
is one of my happiest days of my life and perhaps the best birthday I’d have so
far with you guys ( and maybe most expensive too! haha). My birthday wish is
that you’ll remain friends to me and have this kind of dinner with me when I am
the first to turn 33, 43, 53 and maybe 63. Your attendance tonight is the best
gift you could give for my birthday although I won’t mind accepting extra
packages.

Thanks
guys and take care always!”
—————————————————————————————————————-

After
dinner, Judie, Jhoy, Wewe and I still decided to go to GST for a little beer
fill-up and more chitchats. We left at almost 1AM and I realized I am spending
my last few hours as a 22 year old. Wow, I’m almost 23.

Volume 1: His Life at the Waiting Shed

He’s been doing not much
at work for the last few months, because he is still ‘benched’ and despite him
turning one year at his job very soon, there seems to be very little signs that
he’ll be rolled-in to a new project anytime near. Somehow, people think that he
is lucky where he is at right now since he earns just the same without the
normal pressure people have in an actual project. His IM is open the whole day
at work, he gets to surf all the sites that are not blocked by this thing
called Websense with less worry that someone’s watching over his back. He gets
to slouch on his office chair sometimes, and he doesn’t recall the last day he
needed to work overtime.

While people think that he
is lucky, for him, he is seriously left behind. All his colleagues are not with
him anymore and are rather having actual job experiences for a long time now and
are getting the most of what they can have out of a professional environment. While
he is making very little progress on his career but then he realized he didn’t
have any choice. Undeniably, he wasn’t happy with his situation.

It’s like sitting at the
waiting shed with no idea what time the next bus will stop and pick you up and
where will the bus actually take you.

 
Volume 2: His Old Friends and New Textmate

He rarely texts his
friends or forwards text quotes/jokes to them and this is as rarely as he
receives the same from them. But whenever they plan get-togethers like group
dates, he would always volunteer to inform everyone through text and this is
when he finds it most practical to own a cellphone. He was holding his phone
firmly and looking at it, he recalled how his phone unit model has changed from
when he was still studying to now that he is already working. Suddenly he
realized that just like his cellphone, some friendships have changed too.

Despite this, he has
found a new motivation to hold his cell phone more often as he awaits the next
text message from his new friend. Well, not really new, since they’ve known
each other way back in college. It was yet another ‘friendship’ based on text
exchanges, he thought. And although he ought to be more careful with handling this
one by trying not to repeat hi sprevious mistakes, somehow he has managed his expectations that this could be temporary as
well.

For the meantime, he is happy.

Volume 1: His Life at the Waiting Shed

He’s been doing not much
at work for the last few months, because he is still ‘benched’ and despite him
turning one year at his job very soon, there seems to be very little signs that
he’ll be rolled-in to a new project anytime near. Somehow, people think that he
is lucky where he is at right now since he earns just the same without the
normal pressure people have in an actual project. His IM is open the whole day
at work, he gets to surf all the sites that are not blocked by this thing
called Websense with less worry that someone’s watching over his back. He gets
to slouch on his office chair sometimes, and he doesn’t recall the last day he
needed to work overtime.

While people think that he
is lucky, for him, he is seriously left behind. All his colleagues are not with
him anymore and are rather having actual job experiences for a long time now and
are getting the most of what they can have out of a professional environment. While
he is making very little progress on his career but then he realized he didn’t
have any choice. Undeniably, he wasn’t happy with his situation.

It’s like sitting at the
waiting shed with no idea what time the next bus will stop and pick you up and
where will the bus actually take you.

 
Volume 2: His Old Friends and New Textmate

He rarely texts his
friends or forwards text quotes/jokes to them and this is as rarely as he
receives the same from them. But whenever they plan get-togethers like group
dates, he would always volunteer to inform everyone through text and this is
when he finds it most practical to own a cellphone. He was holding his phone
firmly and looking at it, he recalled how his phone unit model has changed from
when he was still studying to now that he is already working. Suddenly he
realized that just like his cellphone, some friendships have changed too.

Despite this, he has
found a new motivation to hold his cell phone more often as he awaits the next
text message from his new friend. Well, not really new, since they’ve known
each other way back in college. It was yet another ‘friendship’ based on text
exchanges, he thought. And although he ought to be more careful with handling this
one by trying not to repeat hi sprevious mistakes, somehow he has managed his expectations that this could be temporary as
well.

For the meantime, he is happy.

Everyone in our house were alerted and awaken by a voice
from our neighbor yelling ‘Fire!’. This was before 6 in the morning on Easter
Sunday, and the first thing I did was to call out my mom who’s in the other
bedroom with my younger, and go outside to confirm and see how far the fire is from our house. It wasn’t long before we
knew that the fire was starting from our neighbor’s house, the one near mom’s
bedroom and not from afar as we all have initially perceived. I started to
panic. While mom and E-jay were outside to help put out the fire with the rest
of neighbors, I was deciding what to do first: a.) call up the fire station b.)
contact my ‘kuya’ for help c.) begin saving items before the fire becomes
uncontrollable which leads me to yet another decision making—what to save
first? Thank God the fire was discovered early and was able to be extinguished
before it could cause further damage or loss. About 15minutes only, without the
need of firemen and only the ‘bayanihan’ of neighbors, the fire was put off and
it became an instant talk of the ‘barangay’.

How the fire really started is somewhat a mystery. The dwellers of
the house couldn’t figure it out themselves—it wasn’t due to short circuit,
candle left unlit, or gas stove explosion. On the other hand, how the fire has
been controlled and eventually put out fast was the luck story of the day. Indeed,
God was good to us.

I remember the last time there was a fire in our
place, some two years ago. It was
farther from house, in New York compound almost near the elementary
school I went to but the fire was bigger that we can see the flames and smoke
from our terrace. Yet, we were already getting prepared for the worst
scenario—that is loosing our house so we started packing things. It was much
easier then because Dad was home for vacation and I realized that it was completely
different then when we had a strong man in the house who would keep us safe
despite the panic scenario. How I wish dad was here when the fire happened
earlier this morning.

I can’t imagine loosing our house from fire. The
house I lived in for all of my life. The house I go home to every night after
work. The house mom and dad have invested for our family. It would be really
hard for me to let go of it especially if beyond our will but if then the
situation calls for the inevitable… like many things in life we have to let go
of it.

Let’s appreciate what we have now because you can
have many things today and by tomorrow loose everything you have.