TGIF

ah... saturday. the weekend again. can't really remember when it was the last time i looked forward to weekends after a harrowing week at work. seems like a super long time ago. i guess this is one of the things freelancers will always never get to enjoy, weekend dreaming.

i had a semblance of social life last night (or so i tried to convince myself) when i went out to dinner with my high school friends. one of my friends, lor, came back for a visit after permanently transplanting herself and her entire family to the lion city, singapore. it has been a good 7 or so months already since we last saw her, and almost a good YEAR since the gang had a dinner together, so naturally, we (well, just one of us actually) found this to be a great opportunity to hit two birds with one stone.

i got to makati rather early since i also wanted to make full use of the day. did my rounds first at my sites in legaspi village, checked up with the clients, then went to glorietta to make a RARE luxury purchase... i went and bought running shoes. (you do know that this post is now veering off tangent, BRACE YOURSELVES!)

i was supposed to be heading off to the new balance store at the ground floor but found myself lost in a torrent of people crisscrossing the corridors of glorietta. i forgot it was gimmick night and people just got out from work. nearing the point of my claustrophobia threshold, i quickly got myself to the first store i could see that had enough room and OXYGEN for me to breathe... the athlete's foot. wonderful! even at the verge of loosing consciousness, i was still efficient!

after collecting my bearings inside, my attention was drawn to the rather attractive display of NB shoes that lay before me... even made more attractive since they bore a sign that said "10% OFF". i found myself suddenly under a beam of light shining down from heaven with angelic singing emanating from above. recognizing probably that i was hooked, this rather cute sales clerk moved in for the KILL!!!

"sir... new balance po! 10% off po yan, bagong mga model!" (as if i can't read!!! no need to reiterate the obvious.)

well, since he already made the effort to sell, i proceeded to ask regarding what shoe to get. i told him i'm a pronator but am not flatfooted. he then proceeded to measure my feet and after some calculations and MORE sales talk, he introduced me to NB 1224. THE running shoe that was perfect for me, apparently. great cushioning, support, weight transfer, stability and other technical details that kinda just breezed through my head. in fairness to the shoe, it felt very comfortable indeed and delivered all the necessary details i was looking for. my sales clerk, together with a crowd of other sales ppl now around me , proceeded in their spiel on the pros of this particular shoe. they tried to drown me with more facts about how this would improve my running, yada yada yada but at that point, my brain was only gearing to one singular focus... PRICE. taking into consideration that with all the features this shoe had, i can't believe it doesn't come with batteries, more so, that it can RUN for me, i was bracing myself for the impending dent on my wallet, well, my card really. Lord only knows i'm not as liquid as i used to... hell, i'm practically coagulated.


"so, magkano?" i asked. my guy paused, smiled at me and gave the price. honestly, if i were probably my cranky, fickle, chinese self, i would have immediately walked out of the store since with prices like that, man, i'd rather eat! but i wasn't and i don't think my current running shoe will last me a 5k, so, with not much struggling, i willingly surrendered my card to the credit gods.... i now am in possession of my most expensive pair of footwear. i think i will run with it wrapped in plastic....

REELING BACK TO THE ORIGINAL TOPIC OF THIS POST.... my apologies for the sudden detour.

it was good seeing familiar faces again. faces that have been there from long ago, from a time when our lives was just about school and passing to see another school year. though we don't see each other as often as we want to, it doesn't really bother us so much since we all know, we are all just there.

our dinner started with catching up on what is the latest in our lives, as it always does. lor is settling well in singapore. she now prides herself for having fun now for a change since she used to hold quite a reputation for being a sheltered workaholic, a news much of us took into delight. conversation eventually moved to gossiping and finally, a walk on memory lane. don't get me wrong though, nostalgic walks for us means we talked trash about people back in high school, we are not really a pack of saints, though our school prided itself of upholding very christian virtues.

last night's dinner though had a new addition to the normal catty comments and loud laughing. we actually had a serious topic, courtesy of yours truly. we were all of age and i just wondered what our prospects were for the future, business wise, family wise and well, relationship wise. well, lor is now investing to buy a home. another friend will be starting a teaching job soon. she already has a son so her priorities are pretty obvious. us boys in the other hand, well, we all seem still floating. just work and work. it seemed that the boys and i had the same feeling that we wanted to invest in security and until we feel we are ready and secure enough, cannot afford to get ourselves distracted... even with possible relationships.

at the end of the night, as we all parted to go home, i felt a sense of peace. not really sure why. maybe because meeting my friends from way back made me realize that i'm not so peculiar as i thought i was, and in a way, made me feel less alone.