A Weekend of Celebrations, and then some

March has always been full of celebrations, especially graduations. This weekend was no exception.

Friday, 21st: Mark Monserrate celebrated his 25th birthday (actually last Wednesday) and the party was quite far from the house, around a couple of hundred... steps away! As expected, a few drinks, lots of pulutan, and a ton of stories. I got together with some of our former and current neighbors and his HS friends.

Saturday, 22nd: (Niccola) Tesla Manasan celebrated her 1st birthday at the sumptuous Luk Foo Cantonese Garden in Commonwealth Avenue. The usual kwento & lots of duck were the main courses. In attendance were Jon, Alekos, Jam, Oli, Ruben & Hiyas, and Mark & Hannah. Of course, the Gamises brought Sam...

Sam and I enjoy a moment

Jam got a group pic and I'm still waiting for it in the email.

Sunday, 25th: Off to Don Henrico's West Avenue for the baptismal party of Alfonso Miguel D. Guererro, son of Mylai Dimaculangan (Camia, Gluon'98). I was expecting some more Pisay batchmates, instead, we had a mini-Gluon reunion (sans Buan & Amado)... Hmm, whatever happened to those two anyway? Well, as most of my friends say, I should know (of all people)...

Gluon gang with their newest member

Don't forget to visit my Picasa site to see other pictures... :D

Monday, 26th: Birthday party (9th) of Bea Martinez, daughter of Prof. Iris Martinez. Was treated to a sumptuous meal of lasagna, chicken pastel, roast beef and potato salad. Yum...
I was there with Dean Ega and Mickey Mancenido.


***

On a slightly unrelated note, do we have an updated list of couples from Pisay and IE'98? I doubt such a list exists. If it did, then I'd easily answer everyone's questions about everyone else. Now, I'm trying to attempt to make this list (and I'm soliciting help from everyone to try and fill this up).

Well, I noticed (for a while now) that it seems that no IE'98 couple remained intact after our graduation. In fact, to put it as a stretch, most of the couples we know in IE (even if they had a relationship with someone not from IE) are no longer couples today*. Therefore, there's none to enumerate. Also, few IE'98 people read my blog anyway...

On the other hand, Pisay couples have enjoyed some success at relationships. Here are some of the Pisay success stories...

Pat and Chicks Manasan - Been married for a year and a half now and Tesla is as cute as the day she was born. Of course they're at the top of my list since I was the best man at their wedding.

Hannah and Mark Gamis - Has been married longer and has an adorable son in Sam (see pic above). Them and the Manasan's are actually Physics couples. Let's say they mastered the concepts of friction and attractive forces.

Ria and Frank Guevarra - recently married (January) and are expecting their first-born.

Dyan and Gary de Guzman - has also been married for some time now and they seem to be as happy as ever.

Andrea and Ramil Herrera - got married in UP the day we had our Christmas party back in 2005 I think (correct me if I'm wrong).

Elena Dacanay and Andrew Pinlac - easily Pisay's most recognizable (yet) unmarried couple, being almost, if not all, Pisay-related events.

Krishna and Darrell Cagalingan - okay, so they're not yet married. They're gonna be, very soon.

Charisse Siapno and Jayrus Soliman - am I allowed to even mention this?!?

So, there's your list. At least, when somebody asks you, "what's new," you can just direct them here. To my (few) readers, if I missed adding a couple, just paste a comment to add them up...

I wonder, may madadagdag pa kaya sa list na ito?

* - I'm not a all-knowing... Someone from IE might still be in a relationship that dates back to college.

PS: Congratulations to Faye and Herbie. I heard they're getting married soon!

Eight Months

Yes, it's been eight months since my last post. Around that time, my white Macbook was spanking brand new, and I had a full year to finish my thesis...

Fast forward to February 2007:
- I sold my white Macbook and replaced her with Cara, a black Macbook
- I have less than a month to finish my thesis (or else!)

I won't even try to recall (in chronological order) the events that transpired in the last few months but I'll just make a list of some of the interesting (and not so interesting) things that I missed blogging about...

Feb was a busy month...

Feb 1: I left for a long planned trip to Macau and Hong Kong. Got a few pics to share too... Shenzhen and Dongguan where unplanned stops in the trip. Unplanned, but very welcome.

Feb. 6: The winds (with the help of an A320 aircraft) brought me to the Queen City of the South, this time for a seminar on Ergonomics for a multinational watch company. I extended a few days (Until Feb 11) so I could relax a bit. This one deserves another post...

Feb 15: Off to the pristine beaches of Boracay Island. Along with my sister and my friends and a faculty member in Eng'g (I'll ask for permission before naming her), we stayed 3 days in Boracay Terraces, one of the best places to stay in the island. This definitely deserves a post or two...

Also, met with the gang for a movie (from what I heard, we bought tickets to see Ghost Rider and wound up seeing a poor man's version of Narnia) and played a bit of Dota after (meaning, well into the morning)... It was Team Sentra versus Team City again and Team City won a "borrowed" victory, 2-1. Hmmm, I also heard that Nikki thought that I was pretty good, though he hates to admit it. If you ask Chico, praktisado lang daw ako...

Reunions and Parties

The holidays went by really fast. I went to a couple of parties. Party at Chico and Pat's new place was fun, and I think it was the first time Sam and Tesla interacted. I also went to the IEC 98's Christmas bash at Bikka's place. In the IE Department's Christmas party, Sir EGA showed us the Mentos-Coke trick. If I still have the video, I'll upload it to YouTube.

Doc Muriel and the Bagwis gang also had a reunion. Unfortunately, I lost all the pics I took that night, but it was fun seeing Doc and the Doctora again.

Also, after a long time, i got to meet up with my friends from PIQC. We had a reunion in Chilli's and we also had some teachers there too. One of them is my kumare.

Recently, got to meet up with Chester Sy. My, he hasn't changed a bit. Thought he'd be all American Pie-ish. But, I think that's a good thing kasi it seems that parang kailan lang kami hindi nagkita...

Tidbits

For what it seemed like only a while ago, Pat and Chicks celebrated one year of marriage na, and in a month's time, it's Tesla's turn to turn one.

A very good friend from college, Katy Tan, is getting married! I dunno if I'm at liberty to post details. Congrats Katy and Mike!

Also congrats to Frank and Ria Guevarra! I hope mapaparami niyo ang matatalino sa mundo! :D

Hmm, sounds like a tidbit lang. If I forgot anything, feel free to post it here... I will start posting within this week...

Coming up:

IE Department Planning Session (yun nga ba ang tawag?): Feb 28 @ SF, Pampanga
Last day of classes: Mar 21
Finish thesis: Mar 31 (duh?)

Birthdays:
Jonas, Jason Gonzales; Julian: Mar 4
Erika Oberio: Mar 5
Joyce: Mar 12
Katy Tan: Mar 19
Lenard: Mar 26

It's nice to be back...