Friends Come and Go
Saturday, November 3rd, 2007Friends
come and go. Some leave us temporarily but they always know how to find their
way back to our lives. Some do it consciously, some by coincidence while there
are others who are still waiting for that perfect time and opportunity to
restore what used to be…
10.08.07
Sarita
and I saw each other for the first time after her 4-month job assignment in the
States. Seeing her felt like no time has passed, it wasn’t awkward as I
generally thought it would when seeing someone you’ve never seen in a long
time. I guess it helped a lot that we’ve kept in touch thru email and chat
despite the long distance. Nevertheless, I was thrilled to hear all of her fond
memories of US. Miss America (no longer Jersey Girl since she didn’t just visit
the state of New Jersey) was generous as always to give me ‘pasalubongs’– a
new long sleeve shirt with stripe prints, a leather wallet, my favorite Welch’s
grape jelly and a variety of chocolates.
10.14.07
Rodel,
Judie, Jhoy, Glads and I finally made it together in Mall of Asia. Something
Rodel and I planned just overnight, and we were really just supposed to go to
SM Bacoor but since we already cancelled this MOA hangout before, we knew we
couldn’t miss it this time. We watched ”Apat Dapat, Dapat Apat”, which was
Rodel’s suggestion. I couldn’t think of any other person in his early twenties
who enjoys local films more than Hollywood films, than him. Nonetheless, we all enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek movie which
has a plot about friendship, which was just fitting for us I thought. How I
just wish we were still physically complete.
After
strolling the entirety of MOA, we had the best Filipino food for dinner at
Gerry’s Grill, courtesy of Rodel. Crispy
pata, sisig, adobo strips, chopsuey cooked to perfection, soon filled our
hungry tummies with some celebrity sightings on the side– Chito Miranda and
Kaye Abad. Afterwards, it was time for my treat, coffee at Starbucks– love that
coffee jelly frap! This was probably our most lucrative mall hangout, although
I knew it would have been better if Sheena, Jhing, Jhayr, Wewe, Jane and Anne
were with us.
10.18.07
Proving
that not all promises are meant to be broken, I invited Piper (Romeo), a high
school friend to meet with me in Glorietta after work. He’d be coming from
Alabang, where he’s currently staying both for work and residence for now. I
picked him up at the entrance of Glorietta 1 past 6pm, and we did the catching
up conversations at Oliver’s Super Sandwiches. I haven’t seen Piper in the
longest time, and being with a friend like him felt different compared to hanging
out with other friends–different, but in a good way. I guess there are
conversations that I can only talk with Piper. I am amazed how he got his life
going despite the not so good things that have happened to his life recently.
He said he’ll be resigning from his present job (after only being there for a
month), and will be trying his luck on the call center industry. As much as he
wanted me to tour him in the entire Glorietta, it was getting late for me and I
still have an early day tomorrow. We parted ways in Glorietta 2 exit with hope
that we will see each other again soon.
10.19.07
It
was Rodel’s advanced birthday celebration. The affluent person he is, he has
several birthday plans starting Friday and ending on Sunday which is his actual
birthday. After learning about the explosion in Glorietta 2 that happened
earlier in the afternoon, (thank God I was spared from some tragic accident) I
decided that instead of hitting a mall sale, I had to go home straight and just
go to this beer session invite of Rodel with my high school friend Agooh. A
safer choice, I thought. Soon, I found myself drinking beer and this cocktail
they called ‘blue frog’ with Rodel, Agooh, as well as Raymark who was Agooh’s
companion that night, Emong who was with Julius (an acquaintance since college)
who happened just to pass by. Later Rondee showed up with his wheels. It was
like a small high school reunion, and I realized that each group reunion I
attend to seems not to be complete without booze served. I was tired from a
full day at work so after two hours, I found myself woozy, I even vomited in
public. Rondee and Rodel were nice to drive me home and as soon as I hit my
bed, I knew I was still too drunk, fortunately, I managed to run to the comfort
room before my next disgusting throw up. Waking up the morning after, I still
felt sick and couldn’t eat nor drink. The ‘Blue Frog’ made the hangover worse
that I swear I wouldn’t drink any alcoholic drink again beyond the color of
yellow.
10.21.07
Having
recovered from the hangover the day before, I went to Rodel’s house party in
Malabon with Judie. Jhoy and Jess also came in, Glads was no show but called up
on the phone and brought up a sudden ‘break-up’ news. The rest of Rodel’s
visitors were family members, his officemates and a group of people we met for
the first time.
It
was a simpler party compared to the previous parties he has hosted before which
can be attributed to many things: (a)it’s his first birthday after his mom left
for abroad, (b)his first birthday without his not-so-loyal-after-all best
friend who used to cook the best carbonara and party food for him, (c)his first
birthday with less college friends, (d) because this was his third consecutive
day of celebrating his birthday, I’m sure he still has hangover from the other
day and trust me three days of celebrating could be really tiring.
I
left the party earlier with Jhoy and Jess after just a couple of glass of
beers, leaving Judie behind to enjoy more time with Rodel and his officemates
who soon to be, will be hers as well (she got a new job at Rodel’s office after
not renewing her contract in Astec.)
Yes,
it was indeed a scenario where friends come and go. But the good thing is,
there are friends who are bound to stay not in the flesh, but by heart… not by
promise, but by fate.
