John and Abie Principe. Best of friends. It has been 16 years, way back in college at the UPILIS (Institute of Library and Information Science, formerly the UPILS) in fact, since I met this cool, extreme and tolerant pair (think movers and shakers only a whole lot cooler). Cool and extreme since they bike, trek, climb mountains and other stuff. And they also share my love for music and martial arts (John once took up Judo, and Abie's into Aikido and she's actually a black belt!). Heck, with me as a friend they certainly are tolerant. We've shared a lot of fun times together. Probably the turning point was being stuck in the same car for 8 hours on the way home one stormy day in the 1990's (Abie lived in Pasay, John and I in Las Pinas). Abie was in a miniskirt and had to wade in waist deep water... Hehehe...
We usually rode the bus home together. I actually introduced John to the wonders of street food when we got off at Alabang. "Yuck, Igor," John said when I took a bite out of a tokneneng (fried breaded balut and penoy, duck eggs in diferent stages of development, affectionately we called them aborted ducks). "You actually eat that?" I offered him one and his eyes lit up afer he took a bite. We ate a whole bunch before making our way to the ambulant mami cart. (John informed me that the best street mami nowadays could be found in the CCP complex.)
I also remember John quite disturbed while listening to a tape of Metallica on a bus ride home. And, ironically, the bus lurched and he dropped the tape beyond his reach and couldn't retrive it anymore. "Divine intervention," was John's attribution to the whole ordeal. I wasn't surprised when John and Abie finally ended up together as a couple and eventually as husband and wife.
Anyway, Abie has been based in Japan for the past couple of years working and finishing her PhD in Library Science. She visited the country to finally fetch John. They're settling in Japan. We spent the night at Starbucks talking. Nothing much, just about life. And about the people we shared our lives with in college. Arnold was one of them, and so was Rachelle. Rachelle's already abroad (US), so are most of our barkada. Allan and Dang are in Canada, I was able to talk to them and Baby Emma on YM a few weeks back (webcam pic above right). Bam and Veegee are also in Canada, so are Abet and Nigel. Bebs I think is in the US, so are Jean and Troy, and Zyrel and Jho. So of the college barkada only four of us are left in the country: Enteng, Rolly, me and Angie (and you can probably add the Dawn's bassist Buddy).
Abie had pasalubong for me: Choco Baby, Poifull and Pocky. Abie knows I definitely love Pocky. For the green-minded out there, Pocky is Japanese flavor-covered pretzels, except for one end where you hold it. They're much like Jack and Jill pretzels here in the Philippines. Weird thing was what Abie gave me was "Men's Pocky", bitter chocolate flavor. Sleezy sounding at one end, sooo testosterony on the other... Go figure. O_o;;
I couldn't help but feel a bit sad when I bade them goodbye, but hey, that's life. I spent the coffee drinking night with them till 12:30am, half an hour into my birthday. They fly off at 7:00am. I'm going to miss those two blokes. Have a safe trip!
Other than Abie's pasalubong, I bought myself some stuff for my birthday. I bought a Yoyojam Sirius yoyo, TP-Link broadband router, a black keyboard and an optical mouse... All for myself... Well, sorta. And cheapskate that I am, they're all bargains. The yoyo's second-hand from Paolo M. He somehow didn't connect with the yoyo. I did, and I'm going to use it for my upcoming yoyo demos. It's a clear plastic yoyo with metal rims for longer spin time. Dunno why I'm turning webtechie for the past few months, so I somehow ended up with the other items on the pic. The TP-Link (looks like a D-Link and Linksys rip-off) router allows me to share the net connection with my sister's laptop on the second floor (yup, it's allowed in Smart Bro). It's about PhP1,900 at Compex (Greenhills). The wireless model's about PhP2,800. I have always wanted a black keyboard and optical mouse. The mouse is only PhP180 from CDR King (Greenhills), and it's so cool when it lights up.
Also, I watched Mel Magno's Oedipus the King at Amazing Philippine Theater, CCP Complex under Se7enth Stage last Sunday morning. Mel is Mom's theater business partner, and we may be having a production soon.
So that's it. I don't know what will happen today since the day's still early. But I think everything will be alright. Everything will be fine. It always ends up like that. :D
We usually rode the bus home together. I actually introduced John to the wonders of street food when we got off at Alabang. "Yuck, Igor," John said when I took a bite out of a tokneneng (fried breaded balut and penoy, duck eggs in diferent stages of development, affectionately we called them aborted ducks). "You actually eat that?" I offered him one and his eyes lit up afer he took a bite. We ate a whole bunch before making our way to the ambulant mami cart. (John informed me that the best street mami nowadays could be found in the CCP complex.)
I also remember John quite disturbed while listening to a tape of Metallica on a bus ride home. And, ironically, the bus lurched and he dropped the tape beyond his reach and couldn't retrive it anymore. "Divine intervention," was John's attribution to the whole ordeal. I wasn't surprised when John and Abie finally ended up together as a couple and eventually as husband and wife.
Anyway, Abie has been based in Japan for the past couple of years working and finishing her PhD in Library Science. She visited the country to finally fetch John. They're settling in Japan. We spent the night at Starbucks talking. Nothing much, just about life. And about the people we shared our lives with in college. Arnold was one of them, and so was Rachelle. Rachelle's already abroad (US), so are most of our barkada. Allan and Dang are in Canada, I was able to talk to them and Baby Emma on YM a few weeks back (webcam pic above right). Bam and Veegee are also in Canada, so are Abet and Nigel. Bebs I think is in the US, so are Jean and Troy, and Zyrel and Jho. So of the college barkada only four of us are left in the country: Enteng, Rolly, me and Angie (and you can probably add the Dawn's bassist Buddy). Abie had pasalubong for me: Choco Baby, Poifull and Pocky. Abie knows I definitely love Pocky. For the green-minded out there, Pocky is Japanese flavor-covered pretzels, except for one end where you hold it. They're much like Jack and Jill pretzels here in the Philippines. Weird thing was what Abie gave me was "Men's Pocky", bitter chocolate flavor. Sleezy sounding at one end, sooo testosterony on the other... Go figure. O_o;;
I couldn't help but feel a bit sad when I bade them goodbye, but hey, that's life. I spent the coffee drinking night with them till 12:30am, half an hour into my birthday. They fly off at 7:00am. I'm going to miss those two blokes. Have a safe trip!
Also, I watched Mel Magno's Oedipus the King at Amazing Philippine Theater, CCP Complex under Se7enth Stage last Sunday morning. Mel is Mom's theater business partner, and we may be having a production soon.So that's it. I don't know what will happen today since the day's still early. But I think everything will be alright. Everything will be fine. It always ends up like that. :D
