I had a lot of great things happen to me last year, but there were also unfavorable things that happened along the way. I've also made some rash decisions that made me happy at the risk of getting broke, but at the end of the day, those are all learnings that I'll carry with me as I go forward with life.
Anyway, I started 2015 by playing handheld videogames. I haven't gone back to playing my PS3, especially since the time I bought new games for my 3DS, not to mention that I also have an Android phone that also has games. Of course, there's work, too. So basically, my time was divided between work and play.
Hopefully with more play than work, though.
January is also my birth month, so it's practically my most favorite month of the year. I've had this sort of tradition of treating some friends to a lunch date on my birthday week. I started it in 2013 when I realized that my friends can't be bothered to go to our place in Bulacan to join me in my celebration, so I thought of bringing the celebration closer to them.
I put all of that aside this year because my Cebuano friends invited me last year to join them in their annual Sinulog festival that happened to coincide with the holiday due to the pope's visit, calling it "#RetardConSinulog2015". I happened to attend the first #RetardCon two years ago, so I thought it's about time for another vacation down south.
So I celebrated my birthday in Cebu.
Day One
In my case, it's a heavy luggage.
We arrived in our hotel at around four in the afternoon, where we met our fellow "retards" who had arrived before us. Dodie and Small Pau were printing our "official" group name on the white T-shirts for the next day's festivities when we arrived. Exhaustion took over me a few minutes later and I took a short nap. And when the night came, after a brief rest, we all went to a nearby seafood house to eat dinner.
Enough said—we drank. And most of us got "retarded", particularly some guys who roared like "animals".
Day Two
Then it was time.
Before actually going out there, though, I went back to our hotel room and "hulked up" using my green body paint. My colors didn't last long because my face met more face paints and I got showered with booze.
My fellow retards looked good with their freshly painted colors while I looked like this.
It was nearing midnight when we ate dinner at Apurado's. I ordered grilled pork belly; it was so delicious that I regretted not ordering seconds. Oh well.
Then fatigue finally settled in. We went back to the hotel to dry ourselves up. The others went out again to party some more, but I decided to call it a night and stay. I chatted for a short while with Gax and Rafa, my other roommates who also chose to stay the night, before I finally went to sleep.
And I overslept.
Day Three
Before we left our hotel, I made use of the internet connection there to post a "contest" to see who will send me their most personalized or most creative birthday greetings the next day. And since a celebration was in order for my 27th birth anniversary, I bought three whole pieces of roasted chicken as well as other snacks and drinks in the Ayala Mall before going to the pool place.
And when all was done, it was time for a splash.
Happy birthday to me.
Day Four
After we went back to the hotel, I was already thinking of calling it a day, but some others are still up and about, looking to do something more. Atom egged me into joining him, Quakey, Ian, Alfred, Bessi and Gracie as they go to a spa for a massage. Since it was past midnight, the first two shops we saw were already closed; the third one's the charm.
We all subjected ourselves to an hour-long Swedish-Shiatsu hybrid massage session in separate cubicles. I remember myself "snoring" while my masseur kept pressing on that certain area of my upper back. There was a bony part on my back that he kept pressing as if he was aiming to dislocate that bone. I didn't know what's the deal with that.
When we all got back to our hotel room, instead of dropping on to my bed I found myself still awake; rather, I forced myself awake because Big Pao thought we had to start my birthday celebration with booze.
A challenge I readily accepted.
After the drinks, we were finally supposed to sleep, but something completely random kept us awake until five-thirty in the morning. And like the previous days, I woke up at around ten.
We went to the Cat Cafe by request of the girls. We arrived there to see that the cats were being kind of grumpy; they probably couldn't handle the stress of being with a group of rowdy retards. Then again, I'm not really that much of a cat person, too.
See how the cats avoid us except for one that doesn't have a choice.
That night would only be the third time I ever played laser tag, since it hadn't really crossed my mind to go there in my lone "adventures". I'm not a well-versed marksman, either; my play style is aggressive, that I tended to move like a tank during those fifteen minutes. I got a lot of shots, but I got shot a lot, too.
My stats didn't help my team win the war game, either. Regardless, it was the most fun experience I've ever had in all of the birthdays I've celebrated.
Day Five
I had pretty much packed up all my stuff the night before, and I had already checked in on my flight back to Manila way even before I flew from Manila to Cebu. Bessi had flown back on the night of my birthday, and Junjun, Gax, Ian and Alfred left earlier than us. I had the same flight schedule with Quakey, and Marky would be leaving later that night.
I checked the status of my contest to see how many greeters I got. There were more than a hundred, including a creepy birthday message from an anonymous texter. I chose five to win my contest, and I'll be doing something special for the five of them. One lives in America and another in Indonesia, so I figured that I'll make a digital art tribute to all of them when I find the time and the inspiration.
I also thought of buying souvenir shirts for my family. How about that
I wished that all the fun would never stop, but alas, our time was limited. We had to go back to the real world and put down our retard hats. At least I have all these pictures to look at and memories to remember. Besides, I'm pretty sure we'll all meet up again some time in October for #AndoksCon.
As for going back to Cebu, I hope to have more than enough money to spend on that.