It is my single greatest blessing in life to find friends whose equanimity I can only aspire to have. You, Gino, are one of those friends. I don’t know how you always remain calm, composed and unbothered by a world constantly in chaos because you seem content losing yourself in K-drama for days on end. Yet, despite your seeming nonchalance, you have no trouble speaking truths when the situation requires. Your objectivity has saved me from losing my sanity on many occasions. Your frankness is the sort that is honest but kind. And kind you’ve always been.
Much of my memories with you involved a fair amount of alcohol and a little bit of drama (probably mostly from me). I cannot count how many nights we’ve spent wallowing in despair at Drew’s after a long and hellish accounting test, binge-drinking a liter too many of their cheap cocktail, and then going to church the following morning to offer eggs to Santa Clara vehemently praying for divine intervention. Such were our troubles those days – when most of us thought our worlds were gonna end if we could not find that one obscure point to bring us over the edge of a tres. We survived that period only to find ourselves stuck in a cyclical rise and fall of woes of young adulthood. UP was only a test of how we are to fare in the real world. I think we are faring alright. If anything, we can now at least afford to buy ourselves two bottles of wine at Clarke Quay on account of your two-for-one Entertainer deals.
I don’t know how I would have survived the last couple of years in Singapore without you. Your mere presence in the same city had been such a reassurance to me, an anchor to keep me from floating away in the vastness of this concrete ocean. I have not an iota of doubt that I can and will always count on you to be my voice of reason when reason escapes me.
Earlier this year, we were well on our way to crafting a strategy to get ourselves out of this rat race and into a comfortable life of early retirement. The pandemic royally screwed us all up. But we should not let it stop us from working on our goals. On that note, please add that every weekend from hereon, we will go for long walks around the neighborhood. 31 is real and so is hypertension, rayuma and all the other illnesses that come with aging. We cannot enjoy early retirement if we’re dead. Let’s make a move.
Happy birthday my dearest friend!
Walao eh! May pag-mention ng age! Haha thank you!!! It’s amazing to see those photos… we’ve gone a long way! From mushroom burger and drews in Katipunan, Starbucks sa Technohub to beer and wine sa Haji Lane and Clarke Quay! Hahaha… Very blessed to have a friend who I can be myself with. So glad to have you! Jia you to our goals this year and the next! Merci!!!