bonding, booze and birthday...

It was a night of music, laughter, and a lot of drinking. January 13, a day before my sister's birthday, I was at the office checking up on Dad who's at home working up a storm with the pica-pica (finger foods). I was anxious about how things would turn out. After all, it's not just another birthday celebration where we eat, sing with the videoke and get ourselves drunk till the wee hours of the morning. Somehow, I wanted Tet's birthday to be something different. And different it turned out to be!

cousin Francis, the boys' tanggero for the night

In my head, I pictured a scene with candlelights, small tables with chairs, cool January breeze and acoustic music under the stars. So I asked my younger brother to bring his friends along to play some music for us. Cousins who live far away will be coming over and I figured it would be nice to showcase the talent of my bro and his friends.

Tropang Generoso

the crazy cousins (with Papa in the background)

Generally, it was a success. Not bad for a first-time party planner, eh? Save for the delay (party started at past 9pm contrary to my 7:30pm announcement) and the divided attention (cousins were initially interested in singing with the videoke). But once they heard the duo play (yup, only one guitarist showed up, bro played with the kahon) they didn't let them go till it was about 11pm.

our very own version of Bamboo and ChoBobot trying out the kahon

After that, it was the videoke showdown of the concert kings and queens. And while all of those were happening, the girls had.... well, girltalk! It was one emotional but liberating girltalk as we all layed our cards down, some confessed insecurities, admiration, share hopes and dreams, figured out why as we grew older, we were slowly growing apart on all aspects.

That night, we shed tears (of joy! for the birthday celebrant) and came the realization that we shouldn't let each other drift away. We all grew up under one roof, one compound. We played games together, shared secrets and more.

drinking with flair! (hehehe)

That night, we renewed our ties and really bonded. Let me tell you, it wasn't the alcohol talking. How else would I be able to write about it here if I was drunk?

In the end, Tet's birthday party turned out to be really different.

my sister Tet, the birthday celebrant. would you believe she just turned 26?

looks a lot younger to me! Cheers!

Oh by the way, we finished around 3am the next day. We slept a couple of hours and then had another videoke showdown while munching on my dad's special pancit.

;)