I'm Twenty-two, and not even a bit blue.

I wasn’t really looking forward to celebrating my birthday, I don’t know if it’s a sign of maturity or if it’s another manifestation of how “kuripot” I’ve slowly become but all I wanted was to get it over with. Don’t get me wrong, there is no tinge of sarcasm in this entry, in fact it’s a fun-filled, gratitude-overflowing, tear-inducing article.

Perk Squad’s Back!

Ok, not so long ago, I wrote an entry about a “surprise thingie” that Japhet wanted me to go to. Although I felt that it’s barkada-related, I didn’t want to ruin Japhet’s effort to stop me from suspecting so I kind of had to believe him when he told me that this “dinner” is ROMANTIC in Nature. It was a win-win situation [sort of], if it’s barkada-related, I will be more than happy because I haven’t seen my bestest of friends in ages, if it’s really about a guy from my past, well, at least I’ll have something juicy to write about [although I felt kind of stressed because there are a LOT of possibilities as to who this “GUY FROM MY PAST” could’ve been. Anyway, it was obvious, birthday + mystery dinner = surprise party. Gaya nga ng sinabi ni Paloys when I chatted with him about it, “Sus, surprise lang un kasi birthday mo na diba?” Thanks Paloys. Isa ka talagang source of rationality.

I was supposed to meet up with Japhet around 7pm at Coffee Bean in Greenbelt. Since mataba ako, I decided to dress up a la Ally Mc Beal, power suit and a pink maarte-pero- conservative-top under. The interesting part was that I decided not to take a cab, I rode the jeepney to Greenbelt (sosyal diba?) because I knew that since it was a Friday night, the traffic’s going to be more than awful, meaning… MAHAL mag-CAB. Yup, I was wearing my sobrang maporma attire and I couldn’t deny how out of place I looked because I was consistently eyed by a few of the passengers and since it was a loooong ride, (it rained pa kasi) I felt ridiculous wearing my suit while perspiring ( I wanted to add “like a pig” but it wouldn’t be figurative in my situation, hehe) So there, after losing a couple of pounds because it really felt like I was in the sauna, nakarating din.

I wanted to go to Powerbooks first but on my way there, I bumped into Japhet. Kaya we went straight to Coffee Bean. FUNNY SIDE KWENTO: I went to the washroom to recover and restore what’s left of my pretty self before my jeepney ride and just when I was about to go out, this guy beat me to the door, the embarrassing part was… SINALYA NYA ANG DOOR! It was so funny and attention-grabbing that for a second, I worried that people would think that this guy and I had a fight inside the washroom. Ngarks. Kaya I brisk-walked my way to Japhet to make it clear that I don’t know the guy and I don’t have anything to do with his EPISODE. Oh well, DYAHE.

A glass of iced tea, a few topics and a number of laughs after, Japhet finally received his “Go signal”. And after a few steps, a big smile emerged from my face when I realized that the people dearest to me, the people whom I spent the best four years of my life with were there, waiting for me… This is what I love about them, us, may issue man o wala alam lang namin na MAHAL namin ang isa’t isa. Walang magbabago dun. O ito na, naiiyak na yata ako.

I spent the evening with Japhet [ na naatasang gawing sikreto ang lahat but failed miserably, haha], Atoy [na-8 months na nang huli ko makita and if you know us, that’s a looong time, he perfected his rendition of the DORINA-LAVINIA scene from BITUING WALANG NINGNING and his MENANG impersonation from GULONG NG PALAD], Sam [na according to her ay pumayat, from her shoulders up,haha… at bumabait for some unknown reason], Abby [na as usual ay busy magtake ng pics na di nanaman nya maiu-upload, being her usual responsible self habang binu-bully ni AM], AM [na tila bihis na bihis, gorgeous as ever kaya nagkakaroon ng creepy admirers], Eloha [maganda parin at bakla parin katulad ko], Bon este Victor [ ex-boyfriend ko, ako ang nakipagbreak pero wala sya kasalanan, sumasang-ayon na mabuti akong girlfriend, gumuguwapo lalo at magkakaroon ng Billboard sa EDSA, tama na ba Bon?], Ed and Bebang err Beverly [ang power couple na ang isa ay nagb-bike papuntang office kahit ang laki-laki naman ng sweldo at un isa ay naglalakad sa greenbelt na naka-tsinelas at black stockings na ikina-stress ng lahat dahil isang malaking fashion booboo ito!].

The dinner was great, kahit na we were given a few dagger looks dahil sa sobrang tagal naming at kahit na walang kwenta un PSEUDO-DJ ng resto, nobody could rain on our parade ika nga. After dinner, we decided to have coffee at… jaran! Starbucks. Bagong-bago. Na-miss ko sila ng sobra pero I think isang gabi lang ang kailangan at balik na uli sa dati ang lahat. Gets? Kahit gaano katagal di magkita, isang gabi lang, balik na ang spark. I could never be happier. Or so I thought.

Sana Kahit Minsan DuhPerm.

I don’t know what I did to deserve the blessings that God has always given me, from a great family to great groups of friends. Sa Law School, even if it has only been a year, I found really inspiring and sweet people. A day after my birthday was my enrollment, [aww yeah, I am enrolled… therefore I have another sem. Woohoo!] our plan was to go to Shem’s condo after enrollment. Alam ko naman na may surprise, because it’s been a tradition for us to SURPRISE quote, unquote the Birthday Celebrant.

Inside the Washroom:
Carmi: Nakakainis, kasi naman nag-order ako ng cake sa Gayuma tapos di nila nagawa. (natigilan) Cake…uhmm… para sa kapatid ko (being really defensive)
Eunice: Ah talaga… badtrip un. (pretending to not get it, trying so hard not to laugh)
[lumabas na sila Carmi, Ces at Kay habang nasa loob parin ako]
Carmi: (loudly panicked and talked about how she almost ruined the surprise for me)

Tawa lang ako ng tawa sa loob ng washroom.

So there, when we finally arrived sa Condo ni Shem, naging official na nga na may surprise for me. Ganun talaga, kahit alam mo na, sobrang saya mo parin pag sinurprise ka. Shem made a video presentation for me. Err, actually the first part of the video was funny, the second part was horrifying. Basta, kadiri…. STALKER na STALKER ang dating. Haha. Na-touch din ako dahil Shem and JV cooked pa for me. Although I wasn’t quite sure if JV cooked FOR ME o incidental lang talaga na birthday ko. Hehe, kidding.

As if the video and dinner weren’t enough, they gave me a black shirt with the text, “ YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT, EVERYTHING YOU SAY CAN AND WILL BE BLOGGED.” Aww, so me diba? Pero and best part was Kiboy’s and my rendition of I SWEAR. Ikahihiya naming iyon habang buhay, Shem caught it on video at ang masasabi lang naming ay, LASING kami.

Salamat talaga sa DuhPerm, Shem, Melo, Yvie, Haze, JV, Kiboy, Kay at sa lahat na nandun din in spirit liban lang kay Pepe na as usual ay pinagpalit kami sa mga babae nya. Hmmp.

GREATEST GIFT OF ALL… janjanjanjan….

Paopao’s phone call! He called and said, sinong may birthday today? Then went on to sing Happy Birthday. Aww. Love talaga kita Paopao. Belat Yvie.

Thanks to everyone who greeted me on my special day. Happy Birthday to me, I am 22 and not even a bit blue.