Silver

In wedding terms, if you are celebrating your silver anniversary, it means that you have been together for 25 years and counting.

We’ll I am not yet married..Yes! Still SINGLE.

But I just had a 5-day celebration of 25 years of my life! Yes you read it right.. 5 days of celebration.

Obviously I have existed for 25 year s and hopefully (and I mean HOPEFULLY) more years to come. As much as I don’t want to age a single day, it is inevitable. But on the bright side, the number 25 can still be seen in the calendar. AND! Age is most definitely JUST A NUMBER!

Day 1: Hopping

13^th of May was the start of everything! FRIDAY THE 13^th! This happens to be our sweldo day also so it was the best time to start celebrating. I was able to “harvest” the biggest sum of money that my ATM had ever experienced.  And I mean EVER! Having seen my payslip and after fixing my jaws that I had to pick up from the ground because of awestruck, I decided to treat my group mates or as I prefer to call them, “kapatids” to dinner at a nearby small restaurant called “The Plantation” located at Palanca St in the Legaspi Village side of Makati. I’ve only been there a few times but their food is really REALLY GOOD! We would have enjoyed dinner better if it weren’t for the group next to our table who were composed of young men who were SO LOUD! The music in the restaurant was audible but their voices were THUNDEROUS! It was like they were a group of gay people with big macho bass voices. Do you get what I mean??

As mentioned, food at “The Plantation” is really good. We shared a fish course, a pasta plate and baby back ribs which we consumed in about an hour. Then we had  one bottle of beer OF COURSE! A celebration would not be complete without alcohol. At around 9:00 pm we finished dinner and that one bottle of beer. It was still way too early to end a Friday the 13^th plus “harvest” day! Originally, I planned to go to Malate with another batch of friends and I would have to wait until 12 midnight to just be on time. So in short I needed to buy myself extra time. Good thing one of my group mates was meeting her husband in another resto/bar  just a few minute walk from The Plantation.

True enough, I was at Bunchums located near the Plaza Fair entrance of Makati Cinema Square along Pasong Tamo Makati. We met up with my kapatid’s husband, ate again. I ordered 3 beers. This was what I have learned from a friend before going to a bar. Load up on alcohol from places that are cheaper since those sold in the bars are more expensive than usual. So I ordered 3 bottles of beer. And enjoyed a typical chit chat with my officemate and her husband. Having downed 2 and ½  of the 3 bottles, and having one already was taking its toll on my tired body. I was stressed. So I decided to skip the next bottle and worry again where can I kill time. It was around 10 o’clock. Two hours to go. And VIOLA! I found a party to gate crash for the mean time. A bunch of officemates were having a despidida for one of their group members at MUSIC 21, a videoke joint along EDSA Pasay. I saw them earlier in the office being picked up by the Music 21 van which was like totally cool! They are willing to pick up their customers for free. Anyway, before leaving Bunchums, I sent a text message to them asking permission if I can gate crash. I got a go signal!

Before I knew it,  I was in Music 21 looking for room 22. I found it just fine and saw every one. It was my first time to be in a videoke joint and it was spacious enough for people within the rooms to do PUSH UPs when people get bored! Hahaha... Why push ups do you ask? I don’t know. It was just someone of our group did and it was hilarious. Since I was just a gate crasher in this party, I tried all my best to just blend in with the group and just pass the time. I was offered another beer, my 3^rd for the night and it was a Manila Beer, a old new beer that was reintroduced to the Philippine market although I’m not sure that they got there yet. I just sang along with their songs and sipped my beer and smoked a stick and of course chatted here and there. This particular group was like a group of cousins for me since I have worked with them during my AE days when I was still handling Microsoft . I have had a lot of memories with them particularly with the original members of the group. And by memories I do mean MEMORIES. It was 10:30 already and their reservation was over. Some of the group wanted to call it a night. Other like myself figured it was a too early to end the night so me and a few others decided to extend for another hour.

My problem was solved! Hehehehe.. Our extension would end at 11:30 pm which would just give me enough time to travel to Malate! We ordered another bucket  and 2 packs of cigarettes. This was when i started singing and belting out! Hahaha.. I am not much of a singer really even though it runs in my blood. Guts to thrust myself in any situation, that was what I had plenty of! Everyone that was left sung their hearts out and some did their push –up (which I still can’t understand). So after a few well picked songs and after the 2 packs of cigarettes were empty, our time was up. We hailed different  taxis to take us to our destinations. People going the same direction shared. At around 11:45 pm I was bound for Malate.

Day 2: Bar plus Silya

The Plantation, Bunchums and Music 21! Yeah baby, I’m on a roll! Hahaha

I arrived in Malate, particularly in Nakpil St. at around 12:03 am. It was already May 14. Hence this was the beginning of day 2 of my 5 day celebration. The morning was young in more ways than one.

I sent a text message to  my friends that I am already in the area. Afterwards, I settled down in a nearby yosi(cigarette) stand for a “calm down” moment because based on experience, Malate comes instantly alive after the stroke of 12. True enough after I finished my first yosi, people were coming out of nowhere entering the different bars in the area. Due to my calm down moment, I missed my friends entry in the bar of our choice. So after my 2^nd stick, I went in to be bathed by darkness, loud music and  smoke! Just like before.  My entrance fee gives me 3 local beers for free. So having seen my friends, i went to the bar to get my drink then went back and mingled. We were near the entrance of the bar so imagine the traffic of people coming in. The good thing was we got the first view of the new comers (hehehe). Our group, a total of 8, was joined by two more who were friends of one of mine for a total of 10! Yes, ten! When I go to the bar, I always dance. I think I have some moves but not all the moves. I guess what I’m just saying is that I love to move. It’s either that or just my gusts. HAHAHA. Me and another who loved to dance made our way to the dance floor and on to the stage and grooved the night, or should I say, the morning away.  There wasn’t much action like the last time I was in that bar just the usual pinching of butts on your way to the rest room and the usual stares and smile from people you would pass along. Well maybe you can’t always have a big “harvest”! But since I met new friends and had a blast dancing and of course the booze! I has a good time.

We left the bar at around 4:00 am. How time flies when you’re having fun. I guess in our case, we had great fun!  After all the dancing and the drinking and laughing, we were all hungry. So we decided to go to Silya, a tapsihan (beef and fried rice with egg) restaurant just around the corner to all the bars where majority of the bar goers spend their breakfast after a hard morning’s worth of partying. This was not a fine dining restaurant. Heck it is a joint that have table that occupy ¼ of the road.  We ordered the usual tapsihan. Looking around the other tables there were a couple of foreigners on one and on the other a group of boys with a girl. What brought my attention back to your table was this young boy who was carrying a bunch of roses selling it to my friend. Reality struck back and made me realize how lucky I still was having a full time job that pays for days like these unlike this young boy who is already up in the wee hours of the morning selling roses to different people. Well that sucks but that is life. Anyway, my friend bought three roses and have the boy send the flowers on the next table the one with the girl. We were all trying to contain our laughter as the young boy gave it to the girl instead to one of the boys he was with. HAHAHA. Still laughing  bit when I remember. We enjoyed our meal and there were a lot more laughter then we said our goodbyes. I hailed a taxi and went home.

I got home at 5:00 am to be greeted by my mother, father and aunt who were busy early morning errands. There was a “hi” and “good morning” from me and I hit the sack and snoozed off to dream land.

The rest of Day 2 was spent sleeping. Need I say more.

Day 3: Shopping Galore

May 15, Sunday.

It was a hot summer day. REALLY HOT! I was rethinking of going to the mall since it was smouldering outside but decided that I really need to buy myself new stuff. Here was my list:

1.       Long sleeved corporate attire - since I was getting more and more fatter every day. Yes! Hard to admit but it is SOOOO TRUE! I remember a good friend telling me about our stomachs. “Maybe it’s expandable to 10GB”, she said during dinner on Friday. HAHAHA. Still makes me laugh every time. We were all growing in our respective waistlines but still resist to diet ourselves was maybe our way of coping with stress.

2.       Pair of jeans - I think I just buy one pair of jeans every year. The one I bought last year was still intact but was worn out already.

3.       “Man” Bag/ Purse – I have been a fan of “man’ bag/ purse since I started working. There was just a corporate feel to it. My old one was still usable but reeks of smoke so it needed to be replaced.

4.       Espadrilles – this is the newest shoe craze to hit the city. I don’t know where it comes from but it just poofed out of nowhere and now a lot of people wear them now. It’s like the new Converse’s Chuck Taylor. I just wanted it to be “in” with the crowd

5.       School materials – this was for a charity event my college friends organized for a community near our university which I committed to attend to.

After 2 hours, I had purchased all of the above plus enjoyed a slice of white pizza from Sbarro.

I still had time to go to church.

Day 4: “The” Day

May 16^th! My birthday!

Since this was a Monday, i have to wake up early in order to get to work on time. I was greeted by my family with a great big “Happy Birthday”. I normally take my mobile phone with me when I bath so I can play music. Guess the first song that played? It was Born This Way by Lady Gaga<PAK>. I did my morning rituals and was off to work in one hour. Greetings from close friends were already pouring in my mobile phone and I replied to all of them expressing my gratitude.

Work was as usual except for officemates greeting me. As always, I said “thank you” to those who remembered.

At around 3:00pm. I decided to order pizza for our group and my AEs and friends. Pizza came at around 3:45. After distributing it to everyone. I settled to have one for myself and continue with the rest of the day.

After office I went to church as has been tradition with my family. After that, I went home to find home cooked spaghetti and carbonara made by my mother for the occasion. I ate again of course then slept.

Day 5: Biglaan

Biglaan means “in an instant”

May 17^th. Tuesday. My birthday already passed and I thought the celebrations would end already but there was one more trying to catch up.

I had a friend from college who earlier this year had a leg injury which needed to be cemented to be heal. She was out of circulation for a while while she was recovering. May 17^th she texted us that she was OK and that she would like to see us and just maybe buy a sundae cone from Ministop, a convenience store around Makati” and just hang out. Since I haven’t seen her in a while too I agreed to meet her. At first i thought she would be setting a date for this meeting so that the rest of the barkada can join but boy was I WRONG. At around 4:30pm, she texted me that two others from the barkada was joining us and that she will be leaving her office by 6:00 pm. The small get together I thought was for another day was going to push through today.

Our office was just a few minutes away from Glorietta so I said I’d smoke a few sticks to pass out the time. I was the 2^nd to the last one to arrive at the meeting place. HAHAHA. We were waiting for another friend but decided to look for a resto already. The restos we like were all full so we decided to walk to Greenbelt for more options. Mind you it was another hot day. We settled for Bubba Gump in Greenbelt and ordered a shrimp platter,  baby back ribs and a fish dish. We were trying to convince the staff that it was my birthday in the hopes of getting a scoop of vanilla ice cream for free but to no avail. Having dinner with college friends was just like when we were in college although I felt a bit awkward since they remained the “model students” that they were back in college: no vices and drinks occasionally. Unlike me. But the night was still enjoyable for me. I treated them to coffee to prolong the night since I did miss their company. Before we used to have group dates where we would go our separate ways after 5:00 am.

We walked towards the parking lot whre my friend parked and enjoyed a few more laughs at past 10:00 pm. This was a bit late considering it was a weekday. Since they were all going the same way, I took the bus going home.

There you go. 5 days of celebration of my 25 years of existence.

Normally, I don’t celebrate my birthdays this extravagantly. I just treat it as another day but still am thankful  for  an extra year of being alive.

This was just special since it was my SILVER birthday party. This seems to be the same calibre as my birthday last 2009. We drank freshly brewed beer from Grappas with a handful of close office mates plus a special guest whom I thought would not show but he still did. We went to a friend’s condo, played poker till the morning. Then he drove me home<kilig>

What the future holds for me, I would never know. There would be no guarantee if I will reach my GOLDEN birthday party. I would just have to look at the sky’s silver lining every day, wish for the best and brace myself for whatever it is out there.