Some Small Things # 7 - Heart Meter

Life is all about highs and lows. There will always come a time when your moping is alleviated by someone's smile, touch, or words of encouragement. There will always be things that would ruin your otherwise wonderful day being absolutely, stupidly fun with your friends.

I for one have experienced this past weekend. I have, for the most part, spent some time with my childhood barakada ("clique" would be a rough translation) doing very fun and sometimes stupid things.

This last Saturday, the CIMG (the Cult I Mean Group) went out for dinner sponsored by none other than the November celebrants Holvin Tiu and Marco de Leon at Sambokojin (which is a smokeless grill place right smack in the middle of EDSA) where we devoured pounds and pounds of fresh Japanese delicacies. Afterwards, we went to Holvin's house where we played boardgames, and card games/drinking games.

During said hullabaloo, I spent my time playing card games/drinking games with Xavy, Marco, Filbert, Kyle, Angie, Raph, and Ciccio. Whoever lost the game would take a shot of the weirdest drinks ever made. I had the prototype of a Dark-Horse which was 1 part Cervesa Negra, 1 part Tanduay White, and a barbecue Nagaraya happily floating in the glass. I did not feel as happy as that Nagaraya when I lost the round. There were other effed up drinks:

1. The Dark Horse - 1 part Cervesa Negra, 1 part proof lambanog, 1 part Coca-cola, and a garnish of Chicharon ni Mang Juan.
2. The White Knight - 1 part Tanduay White, 1 part Maxx menthol candy (lemon flavor), a pinch of rice grains, and the ever present barbecue Nagaraya.
3. I forget the name of this one but whatever it was, it had rice grains in it. Lots of rice grains.
4. I don't remember whatever the heck they brewed up. =))

During this night of merriment (not sure if this happened before or after the drinking game) I hung out with Raph, Joelle, Angie, and Ciccio out at Holvin's balcony. The stars were visible enough for us to identify constellations (we were lying down on the very dirty floor). Other than talking about the love of our lives, we experienced something that not a lot of people do.

"Is that a falling star?" Indeed it was. I'm not sure if Ciccio or Joelle asked it, or if we all did, but we knew the answer. The falling star wasn't your typical look-at-that-over-yonder type of split second event. The five of us actually witnessed a heavenly body enter the planet's atmosphere, fly right above our heads, and dissipate into stardust as the heat from entry torched it to atoms.

That is a story I can tell my kids one day.

Then there was sleep. I was so tired from all the fun I just dropped dead in one of the rooms. The next morning, I wake up to Ciccio and Raph sleeping beside me. No surprise there. From all those years of staying over at each others' houses, sleeping in the same bed is normal.

Anyway, before we all left for wherever, we watched Marco and Xavy play League of Legends. At the same time. Controlling a single champion named Twisted Fate as a jungler - wtf right? :D Marco was on the keyboard while Xavy controlled the mouse. For some reason it was working out. They managed a kill. But really it was all for kicks and we all had a laugh about it.

Christian (my good friend from high school) and I decided to hang out a bit longer so we grabbed our stuff and headed to the nearest McDonald's and played Magic the Gathering (which I lost) and a board game called Twilight Struggle (which I also lost). I had so much fun.

Of course, I didn't name this post "Heart Meter" for nothing. The nature of the Heart Meter is to measure the heart's systolic and diastolic impulses. Basically it shows you what the heck is going on with the heart. But here I talk of the line which our nurses and doctors interpret. It goes up and down. Just like my day. Just like life. I don't quite feel like talking about at the moment.

Currently savoring the good vibes.