Happy Birthday, Ralph!

Happy Birthday to our super excellent guitarist Ralph Romero :) Today is his birthday but he chose to celebrate it last Friday to catch the last few hours before the liquor ban began (due to the presidential elections). Incidentally, former candyaudioline vocalist Mitch Dulce also chose to celebrate her birthday in advance that night--- Happy Birthday, Kumareng Mitch.

Unfortunately, Ayn was in Tarlac for a Matilda gig. Allan and I arrived promptly at Ralph's at 8 pm. Ralph asked us if Roel was coming and we looked at each other and said, oops. We thought Ralph had already informed him and Ralph said that he had assumed we'd disseminate the info. Oh well, so I texted Roel around five times that night asking him to come over to Ralph's, but I guess he didn't get the message as he failed to drop by. That was such a pity because Ralph had a whole lechon and tons of other food ready for the consumption of candyaudioKAIN and its glutton friends.

Menu:
Lechon
Inihaw na Panga (tuna)
Pancit Bihon
Lumpiang Shanghai
Fruit Salad
Fresh Fruits (mango, atis, durian)
Cake
Durian Ice Cream

I honestly think I'm missing something--- that was how much food there was. It was made through the combined efforts of Charmaine and their neighbors. There were drinks, too--- lots of soda and beer. Allan and I were the only band friends to grace the celebration, plus Gab… the rest of them were Ralph's and Charmaine's officemates and colleagues. We were sure that if Ayn, Roel and Charles had only come, they'd have a great time, too. As it was, Allan and I just had a good, long talk with Ralph (the first in a really long time) and caught up with his new lifestyle. First of all, we told Ralph how his non-reply to all our text messages about gigs was contributing to Allan's risks for heart failure. He promised that he'd reply, even if very late (he's been asleep at odd hours due to his newfound work freedom so he keeps missing our messages). We talked about Allan's plans for our album (see, it's in the works :D) and also what's been happening to us these days with Charles sessioning for us. He told us about his work and his plans with Charmaine concerning their upcoming union and the birth of their baby. Ralph still looks tired, but definitely much happier.

Gab arrived and we talked some more, then Ralph showed us the website he was working on for Gab and his wife's wedding last December. What can I say? It's another kickass site. It's still under construction, though.

While we were surfing, Allan fell asleep on Ralph's bed. He seemed really tired. Ralph and Gab went downstairs already, but I could only wake Allan up half an hour after that. Gab had already left. Buti nga nagising pa siya eh. Ralph let us watch in his living room a DVD of "Couplings" (a British "Sex and the City", but funnier) which Allan had borrowed. After that, we sat around the food table with Charmaine, Ralph and their neighbors to chat. It was tempting to get more food, but we were both too full by that time. In the end, they had to chop up the lechon to give away to the remaining guests (each one got to take home about 2 pounds!). We opted instead to take home some durian and frozen panga. Mmmm. Ralph brought us to the gate, where something slightly disturbing happened, what with elections coming around the bend. A group of young boys were running in the streets chased by a car. Some of them hid; one of them supposedly ran into Ralph's compound to hide. The car had driven past without finding them. It was all so frantic and we had no idea what was the cause behind it. After a while, the other boys came to retrieve the lost one, saying, "Wala na sila. Labas ka na!" and they all disappeared. The incident made me jittery the rest of the way home.

Tomorrow night, we'll be having a gig at Freedom Bar. Ralph will be playing. Yay :) A great reunion.