January 26, Part 2

Not the usual suspects showed up when I went to Cyrano Wine Selections, my favorite spot in Makati and the only social networking site I will be involved in from now on. Alex, Cris and two of the three Blue Babble Battalion already had their spirits up.

Neil was there lounging in the sofa, sipping his regular coffee but the bigger surprise was seeing a former office mate of mine who happens to be one of the people I admire and respect in my industry - Greg Martin III, a guy who enjoys his alcohol with his coffee, sometimes separately and sometimes mixed even before the sun goes way up. He had brought along his former team mates from his agency and they provided me a sense of newness to my favorite hangout.

And while I'm addicted to everything new, we ended the night with a bright new morning as I came out at around 6 am, panicking at the thought that my mom would knock at my bedroom door and not find me inside.

Thank God, I arrived just in time to get a 15 minute nap. After that my mom, cousin Amy and I headed back to Makati, to my old place, and began packing. While most birthdays are spent removing ribbons and tearing off wrapping papers from boxes I spent the day doing the opposite.

Ironic. But it also meant that I was going to receive the biggest birthday present in my entire life - a box which was 44 sq. m. big. I didn't bother with the ribbons and all that, really. The following day, we went to Dansalan in Mandaluyong and finally signed my papers for my new condo. Seeing my name on it gave me something to smile about - it would be enough for now.

That was Sunday and I'm jumping headlines from one day to the next. Saturday wouldn't have been completed with the event that one of my pet piranhas biting me in the hand. I'm speaking figuratively, of course.

Most of the time, this smaller piranha fights with the bigger piranha. If you know me it would be impossible for me not to get in the way, because I love my pets. It was one of the few times I stood my ground and the smaller piranha realized that I wasn't going to give up without a fight. Eventually, the smaller piranha realized how wrong she was and made it up to me by buying me snacks and even a polo shirt in the next few days. Me? I'm just enjoying the fact that I took a stand and won. Don't get me wrong, I love my pets, but sometimes you have to show them the side you always try to hide from them.

They see me as someone who can do no wrong and who can't raise his voice beyond the conversational tone. They were wrong of course. But that's when I realized how old I was, or how comfortable I was with the gift of age. I liked it. I was happy with it. It gave me a sense of belonging that I've never felt before. It gave me a renewed sense of respect which I didn't bother from other people, but from me. I believe that's the most important thing that one should consider, self matters. And it's not just a very high opinion of one's self, but a genuine love and respect for one's own abilities, skills, talents, gifts and all that goes with it. That was the best gift I received that day.

Friends have always been gifts to me and this year, they became fewer. At least it's easy for me to count them and to count on them.

Sunday morning was spent playing football with people from the ad industry. And while my ex-office mates completely forgot that it was my birthday the day before, I got another gift - the realization that my body was getting old. Sure, I may not look that old but my left leg was sprained even before the game started, but that didn't stop me from playing the next one and a half hours. Of course, I had to limp my way to lunch afterwards.

I went to Cyrano the following day when one of my friends called up and she wanted to see me after two-week long vacation. It seemed like a weekend when we arrived on that monday night, the Blue Babble Battalion were there and some of the shop's regulars. And Alex being the gracious host that he was had informed everyone that I had recently celebrated my birthday. Yup, sounds like Cheers to me, too.

Our small agency had a free day at the end of the week. And for the past few weeks of working straight through the weekend, it was a great gift indeed. I love my privacy and I love spending days alone. It's one of those days that signaled the end of my birthday celebrations. Usually, it's a month long, but with the things that happened to me lately, I'd rather keep it short and continue living the days like it was the last - doing everything what needs to be done, or living it like it was the first day of the rest of my life.

It works for me either way. Probably it's how I see things that are different now. Only time can tell. Who knows? Maybe it'll take me another year to figure it out. Until that happens, I'm just going to enjoy everything this year has in store for me.