The Best of 2006 (part 2)

Here is my second set of top 5's of 2006. You can read about the first set here (or well, you can scroll down to the post right before this one).

Top 5 Old friends-New friends:

This list actually contains friends I've had for a while now, but events that occurred in the last year made me spend more time with them and re-experience them as new friends.

• Tricia - I've known her since Mike introduced us a few years ago. But this year, we had several long and great conversations during a couple of gimmicks and then in Bohol. After that, we hung out quite a bit more and had a lot of other great talks.
• Jenny - She was my classmate way back in 1st year high school (remind me how long ago that was again? =)). But in a very interesting twist of fate, it turns out that she usually hung out with her office friends in Bistro 110, which is where my band played regularly in the last quarter of the year.
• Jane - I met her during Ray and Joy’s wedding a couple of years ago. But ever since we had this text chat about computers in the middle of '06, we ended up getting in touch with each other fairly regular over SMS. And before the year ended, we managed to see each other perform.
• Tisha and Donald - I ran into them in Starbucks one night and we ended up chatting for three hours, way past Starbucks' closing time if I recall correctly. After that, I joined them in the G3 reunion in Greenbelt and hung out with them in Rockwell when Milenyo struck and left most of Manila without any power. They even managed to catch one of my gigs.

Top 5 new friends:

Actually, top 5 new sets of friends. With the massive changes in my life last year, I was bound to meet a lot of new people.

• Ipe - He's the new Still Oz lead guitarist. Bunky had always been playing a rhythm guitarist role even when we had no lead so he was a great addition to the band.
• Jhenn - Sep’s best friend, we got to spend a lot of time talking when she went through a rough patch in her life and now we keep in touch a lot (and the shirt she gave me for Christmas is so cool! =))
• Dessa - One of Tricia’s closest friends, I met her first after watching Pirates in the Carribean with some friends. We’ve hung out a few times since.
• New officemates - Oh God, there are way too many of them for me to list them out, but in the short time I’ve been in my new job, I’ve made a lot of really cool friends. Most of whom are much younger than me which is great coz it makes me feel a lot younger hehehe.
• Cath, Oneal, and Anj - Jenny’s colleagues and other Bistro 110 denizens who I got to share a lot of time (and alcohol) with after our gigs

Top 5 favorite movies:

• The Devil Wears Prada
• Superman Returns
• The Departed
• Cars
• The Queen

Runner-up: Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest

Top 5 favorite athletes of 2006:

• Efren "Bata" Reyes - joined forced with Django Bustamante to capture the inaugural 2006 World Cup of Pool last August 26. Shortly after that, he won the 2006 International Pool Tour World Open 8-Ball Championship over Rodney Morris, winning $500,000, the largest prize money ever awarded to anyone in the history of pocket billiards. 52 years old, and still great.
• Manny Pacquiao - do I really need to explain?
• Ronnie Alcano - second Filipino player (Pagulayan represented Canada at the time he won so that win unfortunately counts as a win for Canada...) to winning the 2006 WPA Men's Nine-ball Championship
• Roger Federer - virtually cemented his place in the record books this year after another unebelievable year
• Amelie Mauresmo - Finally dropped the unflattering title of best female player never to have won a Grand Slam. After winning the Australian Open under questionable circumstances, she overcame strong favorite justine Henin-Hardenne in the Wimbledon final.

And finally...

Top 5 Firsts:

In 2006, it was my first time to...

• Visit Bohol, and this great trip was made better by the fact that I went with great friends (Mike, Anne, JayGat, Tricia) and new friends (Mari, Richard and Berna)
• Stay overnight in Leo’s Leisure Park in Pampanga for the joint despedida of Meann and myself with our C&CS friends
• Get a free mobile phone! Globe gave me a Sony Ericsson K750i under the condition that I would not cut my line for the next two years (which I don’t see happening so that’s not a problem at all). Not too shabby for a “free” phone, ey?
• Go Trick or Treating as an adult! Well okay, it was with my nephews during Halloween. Loads of fun! And candy!
• Watch a live performance of the Philippine Philharmonic Orchestra in the CCP. My friend Jane was performed with the PPO that night, and played the harp first then later the piano.

Here's look to more fantastic experiences in 2007!