2007 Family Reunion

Last January 2, while almost all are heading to their offices, we were on our way to our yearly family reunion. That's the luxury of not being employed and on a 8-5 job. I could always run anywhere I want even if it's non-holiday.

My MP3 player was busy all throughout the trip. Its small 256MB was more than enough to cover the NLEX and more. R.E.M, Greenday, Gin Blossoms, Chili Pepper, U2 tracks were on it. Along with the "You're Beautiful" track, the singer of which I can't recall now.

Nice driving along the NLEX nowadays coz the road is smooth. But why not, they are charging P150 per entry/exit. I was easily hitting 130 kph and run it up to 145kph when people on board were sleeping. The P10,000 or so header/muffler upgrade was worth it. Downside was, the ride was so loud, the engine/muffler was rumbling so loud, people in the backseat uttered, "are we in a Tora-Tora"?

We were planning to hold an 8-Ball tournament amongst cousins but the venue was one village away so the plan was dropped. We just enjoyed the games (oh well, we did not enjoy the "deal or no deal" replica game. Like only 7 souls understood what's going on with that game.) The game that got the most attention and the most laugh was the 'Pinoy Henyo'. Where, the loser will be doused by a glass of H2O. Yours truly was the Berdugo. I successfully dowsed one time when my cousin failed to get the "Datu Puti" answer. To which, he shouted, "It can't be! It's a proper noun!". He has a point.

The highlight of the day was, while we were drinking San Mig (i drowned, err, downed 5 bottles of beer and cupfull of Buko Salad), we looked back at yesteryears and discussed our misadventures, fistfights and masturbations.

Me - That I was crying while engaging someone in a fist fight

Cousin 1 - In a fight, that after being hit and dropping on a Santan plant cluster, he stood up with Santan flowers in is mouth.

Cousin 1 and Me – Famous for picking up rocks when the going gets tough and about to rumble.

Cousin 2 - That he was almost beaten to death by two guys right at a lobby of his condo. A long ten minutes of a one-sided rumble.

Cousin 3 - That he begged off to fight the fellow who slapped him at his nape. Reasoning, that he didn't sleep well the night before.

Cousin 4 (brother of cousin 3) - When asked to fight for his brother's behalf, he said, that his body is more suited for romance.

Cousin 5 – After the Videoke singing was done and everybody just having chit-chats, my cousin blatantly said, (talking to me and every body listening)… So you are not masturbating anymore? (this, after learning that I brought my GF on my last trip there) WTF!

After singing Rivermaya's Bring Me Down in 2005 edition of the Family Reunion, I picked Julio Iglesia's "To All The Girls I loved Before" as my one and only performance of the day. How good was my singing? No one noticed that I even took the Videoke floor.

I am P4000 poorer because of the trip (gas, gifts, aguinaldos, etc.) but it was worth it.

Can't buy me fun.