Brebeuf Reunion 2006

Article by Mae Arevalo

December 29, 2006 -- I was picked up at home by the boys (Al, Dino and Erjo) in Erjo’s car. Erjo is still the hottie that he is... My God, ba’t di ka ganyan nung highschool tayo? You would have made a lot of girls in our batch drool. Hehehe, joke.

We then picked up Janno at Tumaga Putik, honked at Myra and Almid’s houses and drove towards Alejandra’s. On the way, as Janno and I exchanged med rep stories (since he was after all a drug dealer in Cotabato), Dino, a newly licensed nurse still reeling from a very bad break-up, badgered me about prescribing him some sleeping pills… Pare, may death wish ka ba? Gusto mo na bang magpakamatay, ha? Kutsilyo na lang, mas mura pa. Pahihiramin kita.

At Alejandra’s, the early birds, Ailyn, Cabil, Derick and Jun were already there. Jun, a licensed architect, is now a whole lot muscular than he used to be (Malamang, naggigym na siguro!) and works at a huge architectural firm in Manila. Ailyn now works in Citibank and still remains the highest paid Brebeufian, I think. Unless Gafar earns more than she does. Hehehe…

Derrick left after a few minutes. God knows why. Basta ang alam ko, it had nothing to do with me, ha? Hehehe… While Ailyn and Cabil reminisced about Cheng’s wedding the night before (which of course, most of us weren’t invited... Hmp!), Randy Jay soon arrived, followed by the Poker boys, Dano, Betson and Alex. RJ still teaches at Ateneo de Manila, but can be seen in Zamboanga from time to time because of his visiting professor thingie in Ateneo de Zamboanga College. Betson was now married with one kid to the same girl he had been dating for years now. Yung from Dumaguete na look-alike daw ni Kaye. Hehehe… Si Dano, our future attorney, long hair. Mukhang nagparebond. Aminin!

While some dined, the others inquired as to the availability of the VIP Room. Asa pa kayo, everybody’s out on a Friday night, no?... It turns out, yes, wala ngang available. Carloe, after being sent a thousand text messages of “Where you?”, soon arrived. Carloe, who is a web designer, opened up to me the idea of putting up a blog for the class. Yes, dito po nagmula ang ideya ng Brebeuf Roots blog. I liked the idea but of course, hindi pa ako nagcommit back then. I wasn’t sure yet how he wanted it to be kasi.

Since the group was insistent for some privacy, we then chose to leave Alejandra’s, split up into smaller groups and drive to Park 88 in the hopes that they had a VIP room available for us.

Upon arriving at Park 88, we were surprised, or more like shocked really, at how jampacked it was. There was barely any empty table for us to seat. The VIP rooms were just as full as well so we had to wait until a room was free for us. We tried to get a table at the Café but was turned down instead. We stayed outside as well, but we didn’t find it conducive for poker. We ended up inside the restaurant with a table filled with half-eaten foods, used dishes and empty glassses. It took years before a waiter started clearing the table and another for them to take our orders. Before our orders had even arrived, our VIP room reservations had pushed through and so we left, without getting our drinks.

Sorry, tagal kasi ng service niyo.

It was a night for crazy singing, losing money and boisterous drinking. While half of the class was busy performing familiar songs on Videoke, the others were busy losing their hard-earned money playing poker. The pouring rain might have scrambled some of the neurons in my brain because I found myself belting out songs by Aegis. Jun was forever into alternative songs, as he sang his version of Rivermaya and Eraserheads covertunes. Cabil’s renditions of baduy songs were heartily dedicated to Erjo, who never gave him the time of the day. In other words, deadma as in, lang kunele si Erjo.

Geraldine and her ever present husband, Raymond, soon arrived, coming from their own office Christmas party. Geraldine, now working at City Hall, looked just as fresh and even sexier than she was in highschool. It’s no wonder, sigidito el mga anak di ila di Raymond. Obviously, pwerte pa siyempre el sexlife… Hahaha, joke lang, Din.

Due to the heavy downpour, a few minutes of brown-out interrupted the entire affair and we spent it drinking San Mig Light, consuming overpriced fried dishes and for some, still playing poker, by candlelight. The lack of appropriate lighting apparently did not deter some of our gambling aficionados.

A few hours later, Jenny and a very pregnant Nashieba arrived. Jenny, who still teaches at Ateneo de Zamboanga College, apparently came from a group date. Nashieba or rather, Mrs. Musa, was on her 9th month of pregnancy and will be delivering her second baby anytime soon.

It was almost 2 AM when we decided to go home. Despite the fact that the turn-out was a bit fewer than expected, we still obviously had a lot of fun. So where were Carms, Norman, Leila and Almid that night?

I honestly don’t know. Pakaro ya kasi se si Carms, ara. Hahaha, joke. As for the rest, ewan lang kosa ya pasa kanila.

One thing I do know is that the fun and games may have changed yet we are all still just as KEBRAW as we were back then.

See you guys next year! See gallery here.