Sunday, January 23, 2005
AWRIGHT!!! The annual Don Bosco Makati high school alumni homecoming is something I always look forward to during this time of the year (which is so conveniently close to the celebration of Christmas!). It's the one night I get to see old friends, classmates, and batchmates whom I shared almost half of my life. And seeing them again all together brings back memories of both highs and lows that we all laugh at. Bullies, freaks, and geeks coming together to reminisce the old times and update the others on what's happening in their lives. A couple of them brought their significant others which is really not a good idea if you want them to just sit around uncomfortably while you go around talking with friends, that's even beside the fact that being an all boys school things do tend to get rowdy.
I arrived around 7:30 p.m. and while I observed that the place wasn't as packed as last year's I reasoned that that's because the area's more spread out compared to last year's compact Savio Park (they held the homecoming on the basketball courts which served as parking areas during the previous homecomings). Saw a couple of old faces I haven't seen since graduation among the few early birds in our batch, Alex and Jonathan. I briefly talked to Alex some two years ago on the phone inviting him to our batch Christmas party held at the docked Superferry which they never got to attend. They did attend last year's Christmas party, which I backed out of at the last minute (see post below). Jon introduced me to his wife and then asked me if I'm still doing any drawings. When I answered in the affirmative (I didn't have any at hand so I just showed him my phone's wallpaper) he got all excited and called Alex and told him that I'm still into drawing and stuff. It's nice to see my hobby still gets these reactions from friends. Our other batchmates didn't start arriving till 8:30 pm and there were those who arrived around 10 pm. That's when (and not only till then) the party really started. With an ice cooler full of San Mig Lite and a rockin' show band playing good music (never mind the saucy hostess on stage that wanted attention) everyone started having a good time. Food was also served almost non-stop to our table (especially since the other batches concentrated more on their drinking and talking). The fortunate waiter to brought them was tipped everytime he brought the grub, Jorge initiated the move by passing the hat. We were also joined last night by another old friend, Michelle, an alumnus of both St. Scho and CHML (we all graduated the same year and she's also my schoolmate in the latter school). It's a good thing I was able to borrow high capacity memory card for the camera from my brother because as it turned out I was the only one in our batch that was able to capture the whole thing on film (one of two actually but the other camera conked out early on). Here are some of the pictures from last night's festivities:
Jess, Vergil, Alex, Jon, and Bryan having a rockin' good time
Jorge and Paul, the bully and his favorite target together again
Franco, Michelle, and Dennis
Ian, Ted, Baldo, Norman and Jess
Remnants of DB Makati Batch '89
Former bullies getting together
Robin, our current batch rep, singing with the band
Ted, Nicky, Paul, Ian, and Mr. Martin
No, they're not sloshed or anything
Dennis, Levi, Edsel, Michelle, and Christian
Taking over the stage to sing "I'll be" with the band
Pa-cute na naman!
Together with our favorite waiter
Jamming along to the tune of "Awitin Mo (Isasayaw Ko)"
They love poking fun at Paul
But it's all in good fun now
Jorge with Mr. Tengco, our Grade 5 Math teacher
Mr. Martin joins us in a toast for both our batches
Jorge puts in a word about our planned homecoming sponsorhip while Mr. Martin was being punk'd
One of the final shots before I called it a night
I'm also proud to report that not counting the sponsoring batch, we were among the only three batches with the most number of attendees (the others being '87 and '88). Also among those in attendance were our Grade 6 science teacher, Mr. Supan (although we didn't get to talk with him), our Grade 5 Math teacher, Mr. Tengco (who hasn't changed a bit in all these years), World History teacher, Mrs. Enriquez, our high school PE Teacher, Mr. Martin (who also belongs to Batch '81), and our favorites (and you could also say our peers), Bro. Rodriguez, SDB and Bro. Carbon, SDB. The party ended around midnight and although lots of other people were already heading home with some stragglers staying behind, our group thought the time was all too brief and we were all unwilling to part. I stayed for only about an hour more before leaving for home. I would haven't wanted to stay longer too if the Artists' Den (of which I'm a part of) didn't have a campus tour in Sienna College early today. It's okay with them, I already informed the others beforehand that I would be leaving quite early. There's just no compromising my staying on till the wee hours of the morning and trying to keep up with the planned art lecture that I will be doing for kids later. Can't have myself looking and feeling like a zombie, can I?
I arrived around 7:30 p.m. and while I observed that the place wasn't as packed as last year's I reasoned that that's because the area's more spread out compared to last year's compact Savio Park (they held the homecoming on the basketball courts which served as parking areas during the previous homecomings). Saw a couple of old faces I haven't seen since graduation among the few early birds in our batch, Alex and Jonathan. I briefly talked to Alex some two years ago on the phone inviting him to our batch Christmas party held at the docked Superferry which they never got to attend. They did attend last year's Christmas party, which I backed out of at the last minute (see post below). Jon introduced me to his wife and then asked me if I'm still doing any drawings. When I answered in the affirmative (I didn't have any at hand so I just showed him my phone's wallpaper) he got all excited and called Alex and told him that I'm still into drawing and stuff. It's nice to see my hobby still gets these reactions from friends. Our other batchmates didn't start arriving till 8:30 pm and there were those who arrived around 10 pm. That's when (and not only till then) the party really started. With an ice cooler full of San Mig Lite and a rockin' show band playing good music (never mind the saucy hostess on stage that wanted attention) everyone started having a good time. Food was also served almost non-stop to our table (especially since the other batches concentrated more on their drinking and talking). The fortunate waiter to brought them was tipped everytime he brought the grub, Jorge initiated the move by passing the hat. We were also joined last night by another old friend, Michelle, an alumnus of both St. Scho and CHML (we all graduated the same year and she's also my schoolmate in the latter school). It's a good thing I was able to borrow high capacity memory card for the camera from my brother because as it turned out I was the only one in our batch that was able to capture the whole thing on film (one of two actually but the other camera conked out early on). Here are some of the pictures from last night's festivities:
Jess, Vergil, Alex, Jon, and Bryan having a rockin' good time
Jorge and Paul, the bully and his favorite target together again
Franco, Michelle, and Dennis
Ian, Ted, Baldo, Norman and Jess
Remnants of DB Makati Batch '89
Former bullies getting together
Robin, our current batch rep, singing with the band
Ted, Nicky, Paul, Ian, and Mr. Martin
No, they're not sloshed or anything
Dennis, Levi, Edsel, Michelle, and Christian
Taking over the stage to sing "I'll be" with the band
Pa-cute na naman!
Together with our favorite waiter
Jamming along to the tune of "Awitin Mo (Isasayaw Ko)"
They love poking fun at Paul
But it's all in good fun now
Jorge with Mr. Tengco, our Grade 5 Math teacher
Mr. Martin joins us in a toast for both our batches
Jorge puts in a word about our planned homecoming sponsorhip while Mr. Martin was being punk'd
One of the final shots before I called it a night
I'm also proud to report that not counting the sponsoring batch, we were among the only three batches with the most number of attendees (the others being '87 and '88). Also among those in attendance were our Grade 6 science teacher, Mr. Supan (although we didn't get to talk with him), our Grade 5 Math teacher, Mr. Tengco (who hasn't changed a bit in all these years), World History teacher, Mrs. Enriquez, our high school PE Teacher, Mr. Martin (who also belongs to Batch '81), and our favorites (and you could also say our peers), Bro. Rodriguez, SDB and Bro. Carbon, SDB. The party ended around midnight and although lots of other people were already heading home with some stragglers staying behind, our group thought the time was all too brief and we were all unwilling to part. I stayed for only about an hour more before leaving for home. I would haven't wanted to stay longer too if the Artists' Den (of which I'm a part of) didn't have a campus tour in Sienna College early today. It's okay with them, I already informed the others beforehand that I would be leaving quite early. There's just no compromising my staying on till the wee hours of the morning and trying to keep up with the planned art lecture that I will be doing for kids later. Can't have myself looking and feeling like a zombie, can I?
@ 8:34 AM ---> 
