Saturday Night Partying

Saturday (17th of Dec):

Reggie has invited me to his 19th birthday party at Grilla resto-bar around rockwell. I was so psyched about it cuz it would be my first party this month. First party cuz my friends (who are now in university) were having their finals. Reggie told me that the party starts at 8pm.
So there was I, arrived at Grilla at exactly 8:00 pm. Of course I was on time cuz I've learnt a lot of lessons in Singapore, and my friends in Singapore kept on nagging me whenever I was late. So, I tried my best to be punctual, and I succeeded! Well, nothing to be joyful about. When I arrived, only the birthday celebrant and his girlfriend were around! He was shocked to see me very early! (In the Philippines, being on time means being early). He had to prepare for the party so he left me with his girlfriend to chat. After 30 mins, 3 guys arrived whom I havent met before. They were Reggie's friends in his University. My friends here in the Philippines have scattered because they went to different universities. So I continued chatting with the celebrant's girlfriend for 30 mins more. At around 9:00 pm, people started to fill the place up. Reggie had rented the whole of the first floor of Grilla and there was a buffet! I asked him why he didnt rent the 2nd floor instead, and he said that someone already rented it and someone even rented the parking lot and filled it with tables! There were literally 3 parties in one place! One by one, my friends came. They didnt know that I was back because I didnt contacted them when I returned. I felt that I had to settle my family and relative matters first, so that I wont be distracted by my friends and complicate the schedule, and at the same time I didnt want to disturb them with their finals. So when my friends saw me in the party, they were surprised and very excited! We gave each other a combination of handshake and a kind of high-five. My friends were like "Hey! When did you come back?? Why the hell you didnt call me!". All my friends said almost the same thing, and I had to repeatedly explain to them one by one my reason. I explained when we were eating the buffet, and at the same time, we were drinking this Philippine-made cocktail called Weng-Weng. Its pink in colour and tastes a bit sweet with a little hint of sourness. I liked it and I drank half the pitcher! It didnt hit me cuz the alcohol content is less than beer. There were several tables. One filled with Girls from Poveda, another filled with girls from ICA, one filled with guys and girls from different schools, and ours filled with guys from Xavier. There's this close friend of mine named Paul Tuazon. He's half Spanish, half american, half filipino, half chinese. Man, thats insane! What kind of a person if half everything?! But anyway, he's a hearthrob, and a moron! He loves to fool around with girls, and the wierd part is, girls also love him! Something's wrong there. But anyway, he's still my friend. We talked about my life in Singapore and he kept on asking hows my sex life, do i have a girl there, do I fool around a lot there, and stuffs like that. And then the birthday celebrant came to our table, holding a glass of ice tea saying "Hey guys, if you want anything, just order it. Everything's on me! Even the drinks!". And thats when the real party started! The first drink that i ordered was an Arctic Strawberry Vodka on the rocks. On the rocks means that its served in a low glass with ice. Paul recommended me that drink cuz I told him that I know very little about alcohols. Of course I liked it and got 2 more after finishing that glass! I still wasnt tipsy at that time cuz I was eating my food at the same time. If i eat while Im drinking, the alcohol wont hit that hard. And then, slowly, our table had lesser guys and more girls. My friends, including Paul, were going around the 1st floor like a butterfly, flirting and chatting with girls. He's very popular. Almost all the girls there knows him and he knows them too! I really envy him. So there I was, sitting on our table, chatting to my friends that got left behind. And then Paul noticed that I was getting bored, so he asked me to follow him and he started introducing me to all the girls he know! He was like "Pat, I'd like you to meet an important friend who studies in Singapore. Pat this is Jonas, and Jonas, this is Pat." Most of the time, I'd only receive Hi's and chat abit and then byes. And they will go to their own friends. But Paul didnt give up, neither did I, so we continued hovering around meeting new girls. I met more or less 10 girls and they were all very gorgeous! Oh my God, its been a long time since I've seen hot chicks! Most of them are half spanish, some are half american, some are even half Italian! And then I got hooked up with a girl. She's not as pretty as the others, but at least she's talkative. But by that time, I've drunk a 2 Goldslaggers on the rocks, 1 Scotch black on the rocks, and a bottle of San Miguel Light beer. I purposely ordered the expensive drinks cuz I know that the was one of the only time I'd get to drink expensive drinks for free! But everytime I order, I'd make sure that Reggie knows to pay respect for him. So I was very tipsy by that. Almost on the brink of getting drunk. But I could still stand properly, walk almost properly, and talk almost properly. And yeah, I chatted with this girl that Paul Introduced. Her name is Pat and we chatted for a long time. Well, it wasnt that long, but longer than the other girls. We were talking on the top of our voices because the music was very loud! She knew that I was already tipsy. I asked her what school is she from. And then after a while, I asked her again and she said "Didnt you asked that already?" Then I'd say "Oh yeah, hehe, I'm sorry cuz Im a bit tipsy.". Then I told her that a bottle of beer in Singapore is S$12, which is about 500 pesos, and here in the Philippines costs me only 40 pesos, which is only S$1.50! She was shocked, but i told her that twice, and of course, she wasnt shocked anymore on the second time. She decided to give me a glass of water because she knew that I was already tipsy. After that, She had to go so we ended our conversation, but before she left, I asked for her number. And then after that, I continued hanging out with the other girls that I just met. There was this american girl asked me "Are you stoned?". I thought to myself, what the hell is "stoned?". So I just replied with a simple no. Then I talked to another girl cuz I've just realized that I just ended our converstion with a simple no! Damn, bad move there! I should have asked her what "stoned" means. But I learnt from my mistakes and I got better in socializing. I chatted with several girls, but all of them are with their other friends, so I couldnt just ask for their number. At around 1 am, Reggie's rental of the 1st floor was over, and so was the party. Most of the people there left after that because they have their own cars. Well, the consequence for driving your own car is you're not allowed to get tipsy. But I planned to get tipsy, probably even get drunk. So I just called my dad and asked him to pick me up. After around 20 mins, my dad arrived. Not only him, but including my mom, my sisters, my brother, and my cousins! They saw me tipsy and it was ok with my parents! They even asked me what liquors did I drank! And then when they saw me with my unstable stance, they just laughed and my cousins were teasing me. We went to a pizza house and ate pizza. After that we went home and I slept very very well!
All of this partying is just fooling around and nothing serious about it. We filipinos love to fool around and enjoy life! This is another chapter of my life, since the previous chapter in Singapore ended sadly, but gave me lots of very good memories. As this chapter starts, I will never forget the memories from the previous chapter.

Without You

Without You by Charlie Wilson

It feels like a lifetime, a thousand days have passed by

Since I held you close to me

If I could see that smile from my friend

I know that I could live again

I need you here with me

Heaven knows what to say

Even though for right now you’re so far away

I hope and I pray

Somewhere in your heart I’ll always stay

Girl, lately my sun doesn’t shine without you

Never noticed what it feels like to be without you

Feels like I took my last step and my last breath in my life ending

Had to say just what I was feeling, girl

‘Cause my sun doesn’t shine, sun doesn’t shine without you

This is more for me than for you

Girl, I finally see there’s no substitute

For what we have

Do you know how much I love you

Heaven knows what to say

Even though for right now you’re so far away

Gonna tell you and show you

Do whatever I can do to get back to you

Girl, lately my sun doesn’t shine without you

Never noticed what it feels like to be without you

Feels like I took my last step and my last breath in my life ending

Had to say just what I was feeling, girl

‘Cause my sun doesn’t shine, sun doesn’t shine

without you

A Fun and Amazing Week

It has been more than a week since i left and as soon as i arrived, i was very busy. The first thing that i did was to unpack and arrange all our stuffs! We have a lot of stuffs from spore and it was very tiring! It took us 2.5 days before we could arrange everything! From furnitures to appliances to cloths! It was very chaotic! And then few days later, we went to Lago de Oro, Batangas to go wakeboarding. It was a 3 hr ride from my house in Manila. My ride was great! i learnt a new trick! i can do a power slide! It looks complicated but its very simple and its a cool move! And then the next day, my dad brought us to learn golf. He hired a professional coach and taught us. It was quite difficult but the coach said that i am the fastest student who learned. Probably because of my tennis skills. My dad said that most of tennis players can easily learn golf because the twisting of the body and the arm swings are almost similar. among the 5 of us (me, my bro, 2 sis, and my mom), i was the fastest learner. I find it fun, but not as fun as wakeboarding.. Its fun especially when u hit the sweet spot and my ball will fly very high and very far! But it doesnt pump my adrenaline, so i dont find it super fun.. For me, an activity that is fun for me should be able to pump my adrenal glands and secrete adrenaline! I read in the bio textbook that continual secretion of adrenaline hormones can lead to heart problems in the future.. But i dont care! as long as im having fun, i'll just say "The heck with the future! Everyone dies anyway!" haha! Ok, enough of this bullshit! My hands are full of blisters now.. On the palm is from wakeboarding and on my fingers is golf. Its extremely painful! But i dont care!
Yesterday, we went to Lago de Oro again to wakeboard.. But this time, my dad asked me to drive. He said that he wanted me to learn how to drive in expressways and highways. Just by hearing the word expressway scared me! But anyway, i have the guts so i did it. I drove for an average speed of 90 kmh for 3 hours non stop! It was not so difficult because i didnt have to squeez the car in between traffics. The highways had no traffic, so attention and alertness is a must because anything can happen in 1 second of day dreaming! So we arrived at lago de oro and i met this familiar looking pro korean wakeboarder. He saw my sticker on my board that says "2005 HSBC Wakeboard competition Singapore". And he pointed at it and said that he competed there. Thats why he's familiar! And yesterday i focused more on my jumps. I used the ramps often until my fins got wore out! My fins!!!! But anyways, as long as i learn, i dont care if my board wrecks. Oh and the Philip Solven (Champion in the HSBC competition in 2004 and 2005) is fading! I dont know what to do with it anymore! Damn! We wakeboarded for 6 hrs with an hour break every 3 hrs! Thats extensive, but its very cheap! I think its only S$50 per person for 6 hrs! After i wakeboarded, we went home late at night cuz we hanged out at my cousin's place in tagaytay highlands. My cousin has a house there and its a 2 hr ride from my house. It was very cold and foggy, but my dad said that Canada is 10 times colder there! Oh my God! I'll freeze to death! On our way home, my dad brought us to a pub and i drank San Miguel Light (my Favourite beer) with him, my bro and my cousin. Man, i really missed San Miguel! And then we went home. I told my dad that i couldnt drive anymore cuz i was really tired so he drove! Imagine, 6 hrs of wakeboarding! When we arrived home, i fell flat on my bed. Didnt even bothered to brush my teeth of take a bath! haha!
I havent gone out with my friends here though cuz they are very busy with there university life. They are having there finals next week so i didnt disturb them. For the mean time, i'll just hang out with my relatives and go wakeboarding or train golf.. I wanted to train for tennis again, but my racket is still on the way here! (It was shipped from spore).
Oh yeah, there was a 3 day straight shopping spree! We would leave the house in the morning and go went back home ar 10 pm! We literally shopped till i dropped! We bought everything, pants, jackets, underwears, socks, tshirt, jogging pants, long sleeves shirt, shoes! Everything is for Canada! I have lots of very thick jackets now! Oh my God! i wonder if i'll ever use it. Then i bought an original addidas soccer shoes for walking (the one without spikes) for only S$40! Its very cheap because were having a Christmas sale. The shoes are red in colour and its very difficult to match it with my shirt. But i like it anyway.
Oh and the week that i arrived in the Philippines, i very good thing happened to me. Sharon emailed me from taiwan! It was her first time sending me a simple message since 2 yrs ago! When i read it, i wanted to shout for joy and jump around my room! Just imagine, a simple message can make my day. What more if its a long and sincere message! Oh my God, i'll get a heart attack!
Well, this week is fun and tiring. I wonder what surprises lie ahead of my days here.

Sorrowful Farewell

Wednesday (30th of Nov):

Early morning, still dawn, my dad woke me up to do some last minute checks on iour luggages. The day came. The day that i had to leave Singapore and fly back to Philippines, and not going back to Singapore for a very long time. So i checked everything, from my room, to my toilet, to the living room. Everythings ok: empty. Then at the last minute before the taxi arrived, i looked back inside, mesmerized by the fact that i wont be seeing the unit anymore.
I arrived at the taxi at around 8.30 am. To my shock, my brother's friends are already there! And as time went by, more of them came! Chin Yong and Jun Jie were the first ones who arrived at 9.00am. Chin Yong was so intrigued by the fact that my brother's friends were populating the place, whereas there was only the 3 of us. So he started calling the others and asked them to hurry up. But to his despair, they were late by an hour! They arrived at 10.00 am! But it was ok with me, cuz i accept it as my karma for being late everytime theres an outing.
By 10.30, we were complete.. there were 16 of us, but it was still a definite lose to my brother because he had around 40 of his friends. But i dont care, as long as my friends were there, no external affairs could interupt my state of mind. I treated them in burger king with the cheapest burger in the menu (Of course there were 16 of them!).
When the clock hit 11.00, my dad started calling me telling me to go back to the departure area cuz he didnt want any delays or problems, so i complied to him. We dashed back to the area and regrouped there. My mom was recording us over our handycam and i introduced each and everyone of them to the cam, including there nicknames and etc. And then my friends started giving me the gifts. I could still hold back my tears back then cuz i dont usually cry infront of many people. But i was in the brink of crying, just a little bit more and i couldnt take it anymore. I held this ball the class gave me as a gift with signatures and messages written on it. It touched me a lot that i bit my lips to prevent myself from sheding tears. And then, Shierly started to say "Do u remember the first time we talked?" And at that point, it reached the edge. The pain crossed my treshold and then i cried a tear. Shierly continued to speak and then i cried a river of tears! I could see my bestfriend's, Kok Chuang, face. It made me even wept more. I couldnt take it anymore, and although i hated people see me cry, i just ignored that fact and sobbed infront of them. Besides, they are my friends and they have the right to see me cry. My dad suddenly called me from behind, telling me to go in the departure area. I quickly hugged anyone i saw, but when i hugged Kok Chuang, i hugged him the tightest and the longest. I didnt want to let him go. But then, i had to cuz i still havent hugged the others. I hugged Shierly and again, i didnt want to let her go. And i hugged netty and Jun Jie and anyone i found. But to my unfortunate, my dad was getting impatient so i didnt get to hug some of them.
While queing in the immigration, I saw them behind the glass door, waving at me. Some had teary eyes and that made me cry even more. Often, i would look back and waive at them looking at there faces for the last time. It was so hurtful and it filled my heart with sorrows and despairs. And then, i boarded the plane with sadness in my heart.

Prom: A Night to Remember

Friday (25th of Nov):

The night which all of us has been waiting for. The night where all of us had planned, prepared and executed. The reason on why i painstakingly starved myself, overcoming several temptations and lost 3kg! The night which everyone would remember... Our very own, class prom.

But before the night itself, we (the prom committee) had planned everything, from top to bottom, from activities, to attires, to food and drinks. Part of the presentation was the band: Audition Rejects. We practised at Victor's house, and I'd like to give Victor my big appreciation for being the accomodation of our jamming practice. For 3 days before the prom, me, joel, shierly and don went to Vic's house to practice. We'd practice for at least 6 hours a day! At first, everything was terribly messy. There was no coordination among the instrumentalists, and we didnt know where to start. Daniel had no idea about bass guitar so we were like in grade 1! We decided to play barbie girl (punk version) first cuz it'll be our first song for our performance. I thought it was easy since the song was less than 2 mins, but i was wrong! The song was just less than 2 mins because it was very fast! My tempo and joel's tempo couldnt coordinate. I was too fast but trying to slow down, but he was normal, but trying to increase the tempo, in the end, our tempo really couldnt meet. So what i did was to tell joel to maintain his normal tempo and let me adjust to him. We managed to fix our tempo on day 2, but at the same time, we were about to complete Leaving on a jet plane (punk version). And was starting on Ultimate. Everything went as schedule and not much pressure was in us. But it wasnt the pressure, sure we had sufficient time, but the work is just a lot! 3 songs may sound easy but learning how to play it in a band is like hell! There was always this time where at least one of us would make a mistake and the standard proceedure was to repeat that part, but since we were fed up already, we would just ignore it and carry on. Shierly had no mic during our practice so she would shout/sing on the top of her lungs just so the instrumentalists could here her voice and know where we were. Some point in day 2, she strained her voice. As a result, the instrumentalists would sing along as well so that none of us would get lost.
Other than the band, i still needed to manage a lot of things. I volunteered myself to check on the hotel with Natalia cuz i wanna learn more stuffs. Before the band practice, i met natalia on one of the 3 days and checked the hotel out again. We asked the person in charge of the ballroom questions and inquired about the sound and light systems. And then, we were informed that they wouldn't provide any light system so as soon as the both of us finished with the hotel, we immediately went to Lucky Plaza to search for a shop that sells disco lights. We found one but the stuffs there are too expensive. Furthermore, if we'd buy those stuffs, we would only use it once and it wont be worth it. In the end, we decided to buy just one. The one with the flashy stuff. After that i headed to Vic's house to jam. The hotel management also informed us that only people above 18 can book a hotel room... So here i am again, taking advantage of my beautiful age!
The day came, friday, 25th of Nov. In the morning, we went to Vic's house again to do some last minute reahersals. We polished everything for all the songs and after that, we went straight to Carlton Hotel. Don's parents help in transporting the instruments, but i held on to my guitar because the SUV was full. I entered the hotel with the guitar on my back, and i really felt like a rock star! I was so cool! We booked for the day time room so that we could prepare ourselves. Then, one by one, my classmates came. I went down the ballroom to set up our stuffs and do sound checks t0 blend our sounds properly. When everything was done, I went up to the room to groom myself. Everyone in the room was very busy fixing their hairs, suiting up, and looking at themselves in the mirror! It was so hectic! And then the moment came. I went to the girl's room and fetched my partner. Netty was stunning! She wore a black dress and she was hot! I ushered her to the ballroom and we stayed outside the esplanade room to take pictures. Although hot, we still endured the outdoor temperature because photo taking sessions are always important to our class. After that, we went in and sat on the round tables. Samantha and Victor were the MC's and they entertained us, and then some of the girls made their performance by singing. But my most anticipated part was of course, the band! When the MC's announced that we were the next to perform, i was still eating my sushi! I went up the stage chewing the sushi in my mouth! And then as i was about to plug my amplifier to the electric plug, i realized that i left the adaptor in the room. I told Shierly about it and she said something like: "Er.. this idiot left the adaptor in the room! In the mean time, Netty, Samantha and I are gonna sing a song to you." I dashed to our room and got the stupid adaptor. When i returned, they were still not done singing, so i installed the adaptor and waited for them to finish. When they were done, we positioned our stance on stage and were ready to rock! Joel made his queue and then awesome sounds from our guitars boomed across the room! We sang barbie girl and i was so hyper on stage! After the song, me and joel were reluctant to exit the stage! He was still playing some beats and i was till palm muting my guitar! And then after that, the girls performed again. They sang a chinese song. After them, it was my turn. Joel and I made a number. I played the accoustic guitar and sang Tears in Heaven, while Joel played the drums. For the first try, i sang quite smoothly, but the very low temperature of the room made my fingers stiff. And then, terror came.. My fingers hardened and then i cocked up. I missed a note and then i stopped singing. Joel looked at me puzzled. I said over the mic: "Err.. sorry, take two, NG!" Then everyone laughed! The second try, it was a bit better, but i feel that i still sucked! I was better during practice than in my performance, but i think i messed up because i was nervous. After that, Audition Rejects performed again. Leaving on a jet plane and Ultimate. Again, i was very high on stage and i started jumping around! After the Ultimate, the class requested for an encore, so we performed again! I feel very extatic becuase i really felt that we rocked! And it was my first performance to be very successful!
After the band, the dance floor opened and the boys and girls partnered themselves. We danced several slow songs. I danced with Netty for a while and then we changed partners. I danced with Net, Nat, Gwen, Hsiu Ya, Samantha. I think i missed out someone. After that came the fast song. We set up the flashy light system and the formal ballroom transformed into a nightclub! After that, we watched a video clip made by Wei Rong and it was brilliant! The video clip was so great that some of us cried! After that, we made our way to our room. Nat and I went to 7-11 to buy some alcohol, and headed back. I drank a lot and i got drunk! My weakness when im drunk is that i keep on drinking and drinking till i drop dead! I passed out and slept even though the room was very chaotic.