The day begins like any other day, except that for a Batch 80 like me it is special. Today is the day that we've agreed to have a small reunion at Butch Paz house at Oceanside in honor of a visiting classmate, Jen Velarmino. The batch has been silent for a while, but the arrival of Jen triggered a flurry of activity. It started when Butch sent email to everyone asking who is interested in having a reunion to welcome her in his house. The batch responded by agreeing to have a potluck December 6 at 1 pm.
I was very excited to go because the last time I met my batch mates was in 2003. At that time I only got a few pictures coming from Butch camera, and this time I promised myself I will take all the pictures I could get and document the event. It also falls on the day of Pacquiao's fight and I can't wait to watch it there live (i do not have cable subscription), with my batch mates (how nice that could be), and that makes it even more exciting.
I arrived at 1:30 with my share of the potluck and a couple of camera's to record the event and then one at a time my batch mates came. So I met Bennette and Ces for the first time since high school graduation, not knowing that the 3 of us where in Los Angeles. Then Abdon came, since it is past 2 pm we agreed to start lunch (me and Butch started eating at 1:30). Then Elmer came followed by Susan and Jun bringing in the fresh lumpia together with Shirley. Again we started eating the lumpia and here comes Ron and Irma bringing in the wines and beer (we are improving, I don't even know what a wine look like back in high school).
The stories begun with Susan leading the pack. Then Noel showed up ridding his magnificent bike (i wish i know how to ride one). The fun and stories continued, we where just wondering where our guest of horor was. We called Jen and she said that she was on her way, they just passed Los Angeles (Jen came straight from San Jose up north, near San Francisco that day, a travel of almost 8 to 10 hrs) and that she will be arriving within the next 2 hours.
The batch continued with our stories. I was so excited to meet my classmates from 1R,2O and 3U days (Susan, Bennette and Shirley) talking about the old days. Jen finally showed up together with her fraternal brods at 5 pm. She looked very exhausted from the trip, but that did not stopped the excitement of meeting her classmates, "barkadas", and neighbors in highschool and gradeschool. Amber and Ofie showed up at 6:30 pm, (he came straight from work in Los Angles) bringing a whole new set of food, good for 50 people and a pail of "gulaman at sago" (and they were soooo good, i decided to eat again). So the stories and wine continued until it is time to watch the fight. Amber collected 5$ to start a pool, and guess who won? The guest of horor Jen in her striking red outfit! After the fight the Karaoke begins with Butch and Ron trading songs and the laughter and stories go on. At 8 pm Mike showed up also straight from work but refused to missed being with his classmates.
The feeling was so nice to see your old classmates again, and the stories never end. Stories of challenges that our batch mates overcame with flying colors (that as a member of the batch, it make you feel proud that you were given a chance to know them). Stories of success that I think should served as inspiration to a lot of people (only thing is, that it is our story and need not be published). Each one has a story to tell and before you know it, It is midnight. A few people started to leave but we still continued with our life's stories and singing our hearts' out (we were actually thankful that it is cold and all the doors and windows were closed or there might be cops knocking on the door). Ron invited everyone for a breakfast at his house if it reached 6 am and we're still there. We decided to call it quits at 2:30 am as each one was beginning to wear their eye bags (lower than necessary), although you would not noticed any tiredness as the stories continued.
We left with heavy hearts but planned to meet again once time permits. We also talked of plans for the future as batch 80 would be part of the organizers for 2010 reunion of SJS. At this time, Jen is still here and our batch mates in San Diego is planning another get together. I think we just do not want to let go of a good thing.
agpineda
I was very excited to go because the last time I met my batch mates was in 2003. At that time I only got a few pictures coming from Butch camera, and this time I promised myself I will take all the pictures I could get and document the event. It also falls on the day of Pacquiao's fight and I can't wait to watch it there live (i do not have cable subscription), with my batch mates (how nice that could be), and that makes it even more exciting.
I arrived at 1:30 with my share of the potluck and a couple of camera's to record the event and then one at a time my batch mates came. So I met Bennette and Ces for the first time since high school graduation, not knowing that the 3 of us where in Los Angeles. Then Abdon came, since it is past 2 pm we agreed to start lunch (me and Butch started eating at 1:30). Then Elmer came followed by Susan and Jun bringing in the fresh lumpia together with Shirley. Again we started eating the lumpia and here comes Ron and Irma bringing in the wines and beer (we are improving, I don't even know what a wine look like back in high school).
The stories begun with Susan leading the pack. Then Noel showed up ridding his magnificent bike (i wish i know how to ride one). The fun and stories continued, we where just wondering where our guest of horor was. We called Jen and she said that she was on her way, they just passed Los Angeles (Jen came straight from San Jose up north, near San Francisco that day, a travel of almost 8 to 10 hrs) and that she will be arriving within the next 2 hours.
The batch continued with our stories. I was so excited to meet my classmates from 1R,2O and 3U days (Susan, Bennette and Shirley) talking about the old days. Jen finally showed up together with her fraternal brods at 5 pm. She looked very exhausted from the trip, but that did not stopped the excitement of meeting her classmates, "barkadas", and neighbors in highschool and gradeschool. Amber and Ofie showed up at 6:30 pm, (he came straight from work in Los Angles) bringing a whole new set of food, good for 50 people and a pail of "gulaman at sago" (and they were soooo good, i decided to eat again). So the stories and wine continued until it is time to watch the fight. Amber collected 5$ to start a pool, and guess who won? The guest of horor Jen in her striking red outfit! After the fight the Karaoke begins with Butch and Ron trading songs and the laughter and stories go on. At 8 pm Mike showed up also straight from work but refused to missed being with his classmates.
The feeling was so nice to see your old classmates again, and the stories never end. Stories of challenges that our batch mates overcame with flying colors (that as a member of the batch, it make you feel proud that you were given a chance to know them). Stories of success that I think should served as inspiration to a lot of people (only thing is, that it is our story and need not be published). Each one has a story to tell and before you know it, It is midnight. A few people started to leave but we still continued with our life's stories and singing our hearts' out (we were actually thankful that it is cold and all the doors and windows were closed or there might be cops knocking on the door). Ron invited everyone for a breakfast at his house if it reached 6 am and we're still there. We decided to call it quits at 2:30 am as each one was beginning to wear their eye bags (lower than necessary), although you would not noticed any tiredness as the stories continued.
We left with heavy hearts but planned to meet again once time permits. We also talked of plans for the future as batch 80 would be part of the organizers for 2010 reunion of SJS. At this time, Jen is still here and our batch mates in San Diego is planning another get together. I think we just do not want to let go of a good thing.
agpineda
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