I Believe in Lovepower, Lovepower, Lovepower!
Okay, I know this is a late entry but this weekend (that I just had) rocked.
I mean, this thing called 'Work' is interesting but it takes too much of my time, and nothing beats being around people you've known and loved for so long. For whom else will I trek out to Shang EDSA for after a day at work? Jerome was actually glad to get out of the fishbowl city we live in. I honestly felt like I was seeing Makati and Ortigas with new eyes when we went. Smog-filled cities never looked so good (although the smell could do with some improvement) and I haven't been out of Alabang for so long that the usual hustle and bustle (the sheer number of people!) of Metropolitan Manila startled me.
We met Kath, Dan-J and Rizza at Cyma in Shang. It was supposed to be Heat and Saki was supposed to be there but he wasn't because he thought we were eating at Heat even though we weren't anymore and...whatever. The hummus was divine (I fed on the gherkins too) and Rizza, Dan-J, and I had a lamb gyro each. Kath had salmon and J had a Wagyu burger. It was just so relaxing. No work talk, just living in the moment but occasionally going back to our oh-so-lovely college days. After the nice meal we had, we went down to Golden Spoon and had dessert. I had Cake Batter and J had Coconut and we were all crowded around this tiny table catching up, chatting, reminiscing, laughing, like we never grew out of our sophomore selves. Rizza had baked us (Saki and I, actually, but since Saki wasn't there, Dan-J got his gift) revel bars for our birthdays so we also had to balance those boxes on the table along with the rest of our stuff. The girl is a culinary whiz, I tell you; the revel bars are to die for, and Rizza...Rizza is the friend who's consistently given me food as a gift, either for Christmas or my birthday. Not that I'm complaining but she's got me down pat. All the years, I've been friends with her, she's fed me stuff I didn't even know I'd like. Kath, whom I haven't seen so long, was positively glowing, and I missed her laughter. The jokes were very her and Dan-J, and I embraced the familiarity of it all. I'd waited so very long for the rest of the gang to meet the namja chingu. I'm glad Kath finally did. It's no secret that out of all my friends, J meshes well with the Ateneans the most. He says it's because the personalities are similar to mine.
After Shang, J and I headed out to Araneta to watch Tears for Fears. Lordy, had I underestimated the crowd. We got there 2 hours early but already the coliseum had a line that snaked around the whole venue! Unbelievable. Add the fact that the crowd was a mixed bag of yuppie-hipster type: people in their early 40s with their teen kids in tow, with iPhones and in pressed shirts; 30-somethings with 80s shirts, earphones, shouting at each other from one corner to the next: Hey pare long time no see!; people my age lost in their Skull Candys, ripped jeans, nerd glasses, chewed lips. Standing in line felt like torture: it was so hot and the air was so still I had to get us two iced waters before the both of us passed out cold on the floor from heat stroke. When they finally let people in, the air conditioning was so refreshing I had to close my eyes and learn how to breathe again. While waiting for it to start we were so tired we fell asleep and the lady sitting beside me had to shake me awake to tell me, "They caught the two of you on video, sleeping, they showed it on the screen!" The concert itself was awesome, though. J was giddy like a schoolboy when "Head Over Heels" started playing, and I laughed when they finally sang "Shout", Kath's LSS for the day. It was like being in a giant karaoke bar. I've never heard a crowd roar so loud. The Roland and Curt, the singers, had to clap their hands over their ears so as not to be overwhelmed by it all.
I wish I had more days like that. God, I was exhausted but I was so very happy. Nothing beats hanging with friends and just having a good old time.