Thursday, February 08, 2007

The Best of 2006 (part 1)

It’s been a month since we all greeted each other a happy new year. But before we completely forget the year that just passed, it’s time to celebrate the moments and memories that made 2006 another great year!

(Note: I have to break this into two parts because there are too many great things to mention.)

Top 5 Favorite moments:

  • Celebrating the Yuletide season with my family in Macau and Hong Kong Disneyland
  • My grandparents’ amazing 50th wedding anniversary
  • Running and completing my 4th marathon for a cause
  • Organizing a highly successful Bukas Sarili Caroling at the Wards event (I still need to write about this...)
  • My 2nd-to-the-last gig. It isn't all all the time that my voice is in absolutely great form, but when it is, it feels awesome. I reeled of twelve incredibly difficult songs in the second set, and I managed to hit every high note and hold every long note. Memorable songs of the night – Candlebox’s ‘Far behind’ and Counting Crows’ ‘Round here’. Both are very vocally challenging, and I sang them one after the other. After that, one of the vocalists from ‘Streamline’ (the other resident band), who is a formally trained tenor, asked me if I had formal training myself (I don’t). Apparently, he asked because he thought that the way I sing and hit my high notes is very ‘aral’ (studied). That is seriously one of the best compliments I’ve ever been given for my singing!
Most significant changes:
  • Moving to my very own place
  • Resigning from the company I worked in for many years and moving to a new company
  • Being assigned to a project in Sweden (I moved here in 07, but the decision was made in late 06)
  • Changes in the lives of people around me! Everyone had huge things going on in their lives. Newlyweds: Chris and Shar, Dino and Dennese. New baby: Joaquin (Gary and Winnie) and Isabelle Anne (Trixie). New pregnancy: Joh and Raffa, Paulo and Giselle, Gosh and Letlet, Ric and Lany, Dino and Dennese. New boyfriend: Kathy. New graduate: Mike (Stanford MBA). New house: Mitch and Ferg, Pia. New apartment: Hannah. New international assignment: John Q, Nemboy. New job: Iona, Lala, Mike, Anna (well, same company but new role). LOA from work: Joyce.
Top 5 memorable gimmicks:

  • “PACMAN” Christmas party – from the charades (where I got all the Pinoy movies – ‘Patikim ng Pinya’, ‘Got to believe in magic’, ‘Lastikman’, and ‘Inang Yaya’ haha jologs talaga! =)) to the food to the home-made boy-band videos to the non-stop laughter, it was great fun with my new officemates
  • Birthday party at Brazil! Brazil! – my friends from my first job met up for a joint birthday party with Chari and Bett. Raych, who we haven’t seen in years, was here from Australia just in time to join us.
  • Clanberks dinner and coffee with Trixie – we hadn’t seen Trixie in years and the gang stayed out ‘til midnight on a weekday, a rare occurrence for us!
  • Singapore dinner - with Ching, Steph, Donnabelle, Kiko, Bong, and Ronald then drinks later on at Ching’s house where Sarah joined us. I hadn’t seen Kiko and Sarah in a while, and it was the first time I saw Bong and Ronald in ages. What made it even greater was that Bong and Ronald joined and stayed even if they didn’t really know the other folks. So it was great that I got to spend time with a couple of different sets of friends on the same night, most of whom I rarely get to see and interact with.
  • Christmas party with my office and ex-office gang – almost everyone was in Manila! Pau and Gi, Nenen, Suzanne, and Ian and Cathy were all home. Of course, the rest of us were there – Joh and Raffa, Pia, Che, Meann, Hannah, Tim, Peegee and Randee. To make thins a lot more fun, Raffa came up with a new rule for our annual exchange gift that was a lot of fun!
And while we're in the topic of reunions...

Top 5 Reunions:

(and of course I'm not counting those already mentioned above)
  • Dino – he got married early in the year and he and his now-wife Dennese came home to Manila from Canada to get wed here. I attended the wedding and met up with them and their friends later that week in East 19.
  • My cousins Joy and Gay! (The Wea twins, for anyone who remembers them...) They came home from Canada as well to celebrate Christmas here and it’s been years since I saw them. Not enough time to chat really but we managed to share quick updates on our lives and exchange emails.
  • Kerwin – haven’t seen this guy in 18 years!!! I lost touch with most of my grade school friends after graduation, but because of friendster I found a few of them. Kerwin and I managed to catch up during a short visit he took to Manila (he now lives in Zamboanga)
  • Duncan and Amy – I got to see them during Christmas. It is always great fun spending time with two of my best friends (and their ‘baby’ Lucas)
  • Ray and Joy – the highlight of my trip to the US in Nov-Dec was the fact that I got to spend a day with them and just catch up, have great conversation, watch a movie, and shop! =)
Special mention: I had a fantastic conversation with Weng on the phone for more than an hour when I was in California. Since we didn’t actually see each other, I guess it’s not really an official reunion but it does merit being mentioned. =)

More memorable moments to follow, so stay tuned!

3 comments:

pilipinaswatcher said...

Hi. Can i know the name of Joy & Gay? I mean they're the WEA twins right? Can i know their surname or their aliases?

Anonymous said...

Joy & Gay Pobre. They are my cousins but i have not seen them in decades. Im trying to find them on FB but no avail. Maybe they're married now and changed their last name. I wish one day we will reunite.

Unknown said...

Hello. My name is jerome bayhon. Do you know Roy Pobre, father of joy and gay pobre? I am trying to locate Roy. He was my college friend. If you're able to reply, my email address is jeromebayhon@gmail.com. Thank you!