Reunions

one of our dearest cousins Carla (sitting, in black) is leaving for the States next week. she will be based in North Carolina with her sister Karen and her family while she waits to schedule her US board exam for Occupational Therapists. she might return in October or given a leeway, will work for permanent residence. but like with everything, we don't know.

we tried to pull a surprise despedida party for her, which did not work of course given Carla's quick senses. but the party's chief organizers, Carla's sister Katrina and mother tita Mae, were able to gather almost everyone, turning the lovely evening into a mini-reunion.

lovely, just lovely. in the span of the evening, Carla only cried when she saw all the food that her eldest sister, the sweetest Katrina, prepared for the party. it was a Friday so we only had seafoods (Mmmm...): bangus, calamares and chips (Mmmm...), seafood paella, tuna spaghetti. if we abide by Friday's no-meat rule and gained divine favors, we sinned 77 times with the dessert: cupcakes by Monique Gallego-Jarque, mango float (!!!), Tina's chocolate fudges (!!!), and buko pandan. tita Mae also fried turons (banana and nangka wrapped in lumpia wrapper).

the icing in Jarque's cupcakes almost killed me. i wasn't so fond of the base because it tasted almost plain. but i figured if it competed with the sweetness of the icing, it would have sent my calories count right up to the ceiling.

sweet, so sweet.

the oldies in a reunion of their own (that's tita Baby, tita Mae, tita Ines, and mother, with Sam and Maica).later on, we all trooped to The Outpost in Nivel Hills to watch Rescue a Hero, the band my cousin Jason is a drummer of. before the show, i asked Jason what kind of songs his band plays, and he said with a hint of a laugh, sneer, and annoyance combined, "Emo!"

the set wasn't bad at all. i wanted to make out the lyrics, but live sets don't make that easy. their music for some reason, reminded me of Rooney. but in their myspace, they wrote they are influenced by Death Cab for Cutie, Dashboard Confessional, etc etc. each of them did their job, but more kudos to the vocalist who really let his hell break loose on that stage (he exemplified Jason's "Emo!") and of course (but no bias ha!), the drummer. though i (think i) know Jason's been playing the drums since high school, i never could keep his funny guy persona pinned down to the drummer's seat. striking the drums requires intensity and angst, and Jason is very funny. but on stage that night, he tuned down his funny a lot bits and did an impressive thing with those tools. turns out i don't know my cousin all too well.

listen to their music at www.myspace.com/rescueahero.
hey ladies! the last hurrah we had after the despedida party was quite unfaithful to how we did our hurrah years back. we were more gung-ho then, taking tequila shot after shot, and Red Horse Beer by the bottles. that night, me, Carla and Iana had weng-weng (that wicked mixed drink), vodka for Maica, and Tequila Sunrise for Alyssa.

and more second shots.
~~~

a lot of crisp images from my college years have Carla in it. when we played mahjong until 5 in the morning, Carla was part of the quorum. when we gained full backstage access to a Sinulog concert with Urbandub, Brownman Revival, and Rivermaya, Carla was there, too. when we crashed Hale's after-concert dinner, Carla was there with me and Iana. each of those times i got drunk with tequila, Carla was also drunk. when i got drunk at Jason's beach birthday party and dared to walk across the expanse of white sand to the rock island around 30 meters away from the shore, Carla was with me. it was Carla who brought the green facial mask that we put on to soothe our faces before Joey's grandiose debut, and Carla who put on my eye make-up because i'm too clumsy. the first time i got drunk and puked, Carla was there beside me, sitting on the parking lot grounds. watching Jimmy Bondoc in concert, Carla and I realized together that he was hilarious and liked him instantly. I was there when she got together and broke up with a series of guys. she was there to hear me and my dreams out.

so guys, what i'm saying is that, Carla is the culprit of all my drinking sprees. :D
and made my college years a lot more fun.