Birthday Party...the JOLOGZ way

Lifted from my friendster blog...

July 26, 2006 is written on my calendar using bold red ink and highlighted with neon yellow, not because I would get to meet Regine Velasquez in person or have a free makeover from Ricky Reyes’ own hands, but because I would be having an advanced celebration of my birthday. It is not unusual to celebrate one’s birthday (of course! Duh?!). In all 22 years of my life, my birthdays were always made special by my family and friends. But this time, it felt different because I would not be the only one celebrating the Big Day. We planned for a triple birthday bash for me and two of my closest friends, Tutuy and Mama Su. This is the very first time JOLOGZ would be experiencing this kind of celebration, which made me very excited… to the 3rd degree!

It started when Tutuy told us that he wanted to have his party at our house. Mama Su and I decided to join…. so we could spend less. Hahaha! But it turned out to be not only a cost-saving scheme, but a “fun-enhancing” idea. (I would not think of it as time-saving because it is never a waste of time to plan for parties with your friends.)

With the help of our friends (special thanks to Tiya Weng), we came up with a menu that cost us a humble amount of 500 bucks each. I remember the years when spending such amount is a huge pain in the ass. But now that we are already professionals… hah! Piece of bubble gum! (yabang!)

Who would want to wake up early on a cold morning for general cleaning? Me! Hehehe… On that red-letter day, we cleaned our apartment unit as if the US President would be coming. Very tiring it was! We sanitized the areas which were left dusty and dirty since forever… but we didn’t mind the achooos!, yucks! and eewws! because we wanted our place to be ready for the party. When it was finally done…. Whew! You should have seen how organized our room was… costing us only 56 bucks each for cleaning materials! (By the way, as of this writing, it already got back to its old messy appearance. Hehehe…)
 
It’s party time! The event was graced by the most special persons in the world, next to our family….JOLOGZ! We had a simple dinner of spaghetti, pansit malabon and barbeque. We also had pizza from Mama Su and cake from Tutuy. What was my share? Hah! Red wine and brandy, as per Tutuy’s request. FYI: JOLOGZ don’t usually drink… but we thought it’s good to try once.

After dinner, we indulged into the stuff that bonded us in the first place….SINGING! Thanks to my new credit card, I was able to buy a dvd-videoke player so we no longer need to go to ktv bars and splurge our cash just to sing. It was rockin’ fun! We belted a few serious songs, and jammed on lots of funny songs. We danced like disco rats and laughed till our jaws dropped.

Finally, we came to the serious part of the event… open forum. I think this is the secret ingredient of our friendship. We are always in touch with each other’s emotions, and I mean deep emotions. We do not think it’s shameful to reveal secrets which others may find scandalous. We find comfort in sharing our lives with each other… and we take pride in being each other’s confidant. Our sharing is, well… reserved for us and will be kept to ourselves for eternity.

As we were about to sleep, I whispered a short prayer, thanking the Almighty for this wonderful day, and wishing for more moments like this to come. I will never forget this day, for it was when I have proven to myself once again that TROPANG JOLOGZ is still alive no matter how busy we all are… no matter where are paths would lead us.