The art of friendship

Had a meeting at the Philippine Stock Exchange building last week, and had to take a snap of this.

It's Ovvian's sculpture!

There's a welling feeling of pride every time I see Ovvian's work. She's gotten her talent in metal sculpting from her dad, and it's always a joy seeing her work.

I'm so fortunate to have such a creative and talented friend.

I-1-der

It's always a joy whenever block mates get together.

Can't believe it's been 3 decades since 34 diverse kids got together and formed Block I-1 in UP CMC.

Despite our differences, the block gelled together and was a close-knit group. Of course, there were sub-groups within the block - like the Assumption Girls, the Rizal group, the out-of-towners, etc., but overall, everyone just got along.

Tonight, we had a micro-get-together with 4 of us block mates in attendance.

It was so good to see Dyra again after almost 20 years. And it's always a joy to see Prichy and Wowie.

We've always talked about planning a huge Block reunion.

Makes me wonder if that'll happen soon.

Cap it off

Oh, the things you find when you rummage your old stuff.

It gave me such a thrill to find this:

My McDonald's cap!

This was my cap during my crew days at McDonald's Commonwealth in college. It still has a lot of the pins I collected from contests, milestones, awards, and the like. Back then, collecting pins were all the rage, and it's so great to see that my pin collection (some of it, at least) is still there.

This re-ignited my wish to be a crew for the day, yet again.

Old kids from the block

Fun fact about my Dad: His best friends now are his best friends from way back in high school. 

They're all 82 years old, and they still meet up as a group quite often. Usually, on Sundays, they'd meet up for breakfast at Pancake House, and they spend the morning just catching up. One of Dad's best friends - Ninong Tino - even goes to the house whenever there's a special occasion. 

It's safe to say that their friendship is "goals" worthy.

This is something that I can relate to. That's because after 30+ years since we first met in college, some of the Block I-1 kids are still together. We still see each other often, share meals, hang out, and talk about a wide range of topics, from our time as college freshmen to maintenance medicine.

The reason why I was in UP last Friday was exactly that. To meet up with some of my best buds from the block:

Mona, Wowie and I had a meeting at CMC, then headed off to the University Hotel for lunch. Incidentally, the managing consultant of this establishment is also a blockmate of ours - Rommel! So, it was like a mini-block reunion.

Of course, part of the discussion during lunch was organising a bigger block reunion at the hotel. Not only will we finally get to see each other, we'll also be supporting another block mate in his new endeavour. 

Gotta block off the dates for that one.

College Cool!

Oh look! Another “cool” post.

Friday was awesome!

Not only did I get to visit my old College and meet up with old and new friends, I also got to eat my favourite college snack - ice cream in a bun!

Cool!

Hot Rod-ic’s

Now, there’s no need to go all the way to UP for my Rodic’s fix.

They opened a branch nearby!

This branchnin White Plains is near the Bakeshop and Coffee Shop. If the weather is pleasant, it’s actually possible to just walk there from Dexter’s!

Hey Rodic’s! Here I come!

Grimace-inducing memories

Mom was cleaning up some of the cabinets in the house. She found this and immediately knew that this was mine.

It's a Grimace stuffed toy!

Grimace is very memorable and is an indelible part of my teen years. When I was 17 years old and working at McDonald's, they'd sometimes ask me to wear the Grimace costume and perform the "Wiggle, Wiggle" dance during kiddie parties.

While it was fun and I'd get a kick out of it, the whole process was difficult because I had to bend my knees to make Grimace look short and stubby. As a character, he's supposed to be stubby, and I was 5'10", so a tall Grimace just wouldn't cut it.

Thus, I'd spend about 15 minutes with knees bent, dancing to the delight of kids. It was difficult, yes, but hearing the kids laughing and cheering always made the discomfort worth it.

And that's why Grimace is very memorable.

And that's why I still have this Grimace toy with me.

D' Frendz of Decades

Some people still find it amazing whenever I tell them that my friends from my freshman year of college are the same people I hang out with today. 

Within the Block I-1 circle, I still see about half of my batch mates regularly. There's the "academic circle" composed of Prichy, Wowie and Dyra. There's the "barkada circle" which is also composed of Prichy, Wowie, with the addition of Kitel and Lhorie. There's the "Hong Kong/China circle" composed of Shash, Ovvian and Darryl. Then, of course, there's "circle of D' Frendz," composed of Grace, Mona, Rona, Tintin - all of whom were the first people I met in UP.

There are times when our lives feel like a slow-mo montage that you often see in Hollywood movies. 

It would start during our first day in UP and our first group pictorial in front of Quezon Hall. Then, it would transition to our days as classmates in Journ 101 all the way to Journ 199. Fade in to our Journ club days when we'd have a cake raffle to raise funds to buy - of all things - linoleum! This would then lead to our graduation day, then our first jobs, birthdays, weddings, baptisms, and so many fun and memorable moments.

A wonderful reminder of those days came in the form of a box full of old photos that Grace brought yesterday. And one particular photo that caught my eye was a photo of myself with Grace and Lezyl which was taken during one of the D' Frendz celebrations after college.

We looked at the photos and saw how much we've changed, and how much we've stayed the same. To prove that point, we decided to do this:

While some of us have less cheeks and more facial hair (me), more hair and more face powder (Grace), less curls and more decibels (Lezyl), it's nice to know that at the core of it all, we're the same people we were decades ago.