Mike's birthday isn't until later in the week, but he invited us over to his house last night to celebrate it earlier.

Rosa and Aris had picked me up at ATC 15 minutes after I had arrived there from Wack Wack (I waited until Looney Alley rehearsals were done), then we were off to Mike's house.

When we got there, we immediately heard Mike's loud voice combined with laughter. Yep, there they were, Mike, PJ, Seph, Karlo, Arlo and Hofi. There were a bunch of other people inside as well, either huddled up at Mike and Dave's PC or at the just-switched-on PS2.

Barry and Dave had appeared 15 minutes after we had arrived, after leaving the house for a few minutes. Whee, there wasn't just the Hogi Hall and the track boys, but the Funky Bunch was there as well.

Then after a while, we realized that Mike didn't have food in the house. He only had coolers of beer and soda, and packs of Boy Bawang. AHAHAHAHA! Some birthday party. The only thing I ate after that Pinoy waffle I bought with Peachy was a bag of Tostillas with C2 Apple.

Seph had to leave at around 11 for work, so we all saw him out the gate, then we ended up standing there for a few minutes. Olive and this other friend Jenny arrived (hehe, I keep hearing about this Jenny, but last night was the first time I met her and saw in person). They hung around a bit, then before we knew it, Rosa, Aris and I were the only Hogi Hall people in the house. Mike had joined PJ, Olive and Jenny for a walk.

We sat around near the front gate and chatted until we saw a Domino's Pizza guy pull up outside. As it turned out, Dave had ordered pizza because of the lack of food in the house. Hehehe, Dave took the 3 boxes of pizza to the back of the house where he, Barry and Karlo were hanging out, and Rosa, Aris and I followed the pizzas in hopes of getting some. Well, maybe it was just me because Rosa and Aris had eaten before they left.

So the 3 of us ended up the 3 guys, sitting and talking while Mike was still nowhere in sight. Gonx had appeared minutes later and joined us as well. It was been a while since I hung out with the Funky Bunch, but I guess it was still the same. Uber-serious topics punctuated with funny quips. When we heard Mike's loud voice again coming from the front of the house, Rosa, Aris, Gonx and I then joined the group there.

Rosa: I miss Seph and Josh.

True, we're friends we're both the Funky Bunch and the track boys, but we felt more comfortable if Seph and Josh were there. Their company was different, more laid back. We couldn't relate with the Funky Bunch with their uber serious tones, and the track boys younger interests.

Oh well.

But still, it was nice seeing old friends. The ones who have seen you at your best and at your worse, and during the times when you were all still naive about the world around you.


In other news...

On Friday night, I heard that an employee of McDonald's Taft shot the manager due to some work-related issue. I only heard it from Rain through text, and form my aunt who was watching TV, so I don't really know the entire story.

Then when I had met up with Peachy yesterday at Shang, she mentioned the Wowowee stampede at Ultra. I kept hearing it from various people throughout the day and into the night, and it was plastered on the entire front page of the newspaper this morning.

It broke my heart just seeing the photo in the paper that showed a young boy weeping next to his dead mother amidst the group of dead people. My heart goes out to the family members of the victims.

People's initial reaction was "Mga Pinoy naman talaga." That was my reaction too. I mean, if they already knew that the venue was already full, why would they force themselves to get in? I mean, true, they were all vying for some prize to lift themselves from poverty, but come on, what are the chances, even with the hundreds of prizes?

From the information that I heard, there were a lot of people trying to get in, so they let the women and children enter first. The place became packed, so they closed the gates, but people outside were still too persistent. The gates gave way, and everyone got pushed forward because of the ramp that raked downward. Because the women and children were the ones inside, they were the ones that got trampled on.

Some blamed the people, because of their greed. Yeah, they were in desperate need of money, but why would they rish their safety and others' as well just for that?

Some blamed the network, because of the lack of crowd control. Crowd control? They already closed the gates because the place was packed.

*sigh*

Whatever people say or do now won't bring the back the lives of the people who died from the incident. I guess to those networks who plan to organize similar such as this, let this be a lesson.

Oh well.

I suddenly remembered a memory of Ultra. Track days from when I was a junior in high school. I was in the walkathon (I forgot how far it was though), with Marielle, Eleanor, and this other girl from another school. It was so funny, because I was always trying to get ahead of Eleanor. But whenever she sees my shadow catching up to her, she's speed up again, so I came in third. After a while, a whole bunch of us sneaked out to grab a bite from Megamall without permission from our coach.