The rest of my birthday celebration was kind of a long weekend. My birthday was on Saturday, and my band had a gig in Racks El Pueblo on Friday night that was going to start at around 11pm. I figured there was a good chance I would be performing on stage when I turned 30, and true enough, I was. Can’t remember exactly which song I was singing at the stroke of midnight, but I knew that it was Sept 24 when I saw members of the Grin team (the volleyball team I coach who watched my gig after their game that Friday night) come up a few feet away from the stage and mouth ‘Happy birthday’ to me when I looked at them.
The gig itself wasn’t all that good technically – we majorly bungled up the intro to “Selling the drama” and well everyone was making quite a few mistakes. I have to say, though, that part of it was certainlty the sound system which sucked quite a bit and in fact my mic died a few times in the middle of a song (especially a couple of times during a cappella parts!). But the audience didn’t seem to mind, and the reception we got sort of mirrored that of 90proof where a huge part of the audience were standing up to watch us perform and even sing along with us (as if, again, it was a concert that they came to watch).
By the time the gig was over, the remaining Grin team whisked me off to their table where a slice of chocolate cake with a candle on top of it was waiting for me, and they started to sing ‘Happy Birthday’. (Earlier in the night, they also presented me with a nice picture of me with the team, and dedications from everyone at the back, Jane had also gotten me the ‘Free yourself’ CD of Fantasia Barrino, which was a whole lot better than I thought it would be, and I’ve been playing it a lot on my car stereo recently). Later that night er early early morning, Bunky realized that it was past midnight and the band and our friends who stayed to watch started greeting me as well. Sep even got me a San Mig light – one for the road – before I headed out.
The next day I got up quite late as I was exhausted from the long week and the long Friday. I then made reservations for ten in Cantinetta, this new restaurant next to Starbucks along Pasong Tamo extension. I learned about this resto from Anton’s blog and he raved about it so I figured it would be good to try it out. I knew it was pricey, but thje plan was that Mitch and I woudl split the bill since Mitch's birthday is just a few days before mine and most of the time we celebrate together.
I picked up Iona and Joyce on the way to Makati, and we got there right on schedule (730pm, as I had reserved). Mitch and Ferg got there shortly after, followed by Mike. Gary and Winnie came a bit later and Anna rounded up the gang. The food was actually very good – from the Tagliatelle, to the mushroom and spinach appetizer, to the different pizzas, to the cannelloni and lasagna. The wine that Ferg picked for us was pretty good too. Cantinetta served us a couple of desserts for free, but as that was clearly not enough for everyone, Mitch and I decided to get one each of the desserts they had.
The next day, Sunday, I took my family to Superbowl in SM Fairview for lunch. Unfortunately, Tatay was sick so he couldn’t join us. Tita Tuds and my cousins Tracy, Troy, and Twinkle were all unavailable too because they only found out last minute about it and already had other plans. So it was just me, Mom, CJ, Ciera, and Nanay in Superbowl. We just ordered extra so that we could bring food to those who couldn’t make it.
Finally, on Monday, I met up with my friends from Nortel in Good Earth in Metrowalk. I was actually sick that day and was on sick leave, but I didn’t want to reschedule so I rested the entire day and felt good enough to head to the Ortigas area at around 630. I arrived in Good Earth at 730 and for the first time, I was the first person to arrive. We all stuffed ourselves silly (the beef chow mein was our favorite dish that night, although everything was good) before capping the night at Coffee Beanery that was just right next door.
I also ended up with a bit more stuff from my wishlist and some other stuff – more starbucks GCs, aftershave gel and shaving cream from Body Shop, a concert ticket to the Company’s 20th anniversary, and a few more CDs: ‘A rush of blood to the head’ by Coldplay, ‘Hopes and dreams’ by Keane, and ‘The best of Sting.’
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