This is just a very short clip. I wanted to make sure it worked first before uploading a longer video.

insomnia

I've been having trouble sleeping since yesterday. Tonight, just past midnight, I got up, fixed myself a cup of hot soup and toasted bread to try to finally get me to sleep. Then I sat down, sleep still not coming, and then out of nowhere, it hit me. I'm probably starting to miss my friend, and I didn't even know it, until now.

good news but...

Yesterday she finally got the results of her Australian Dental Boards exam, and she passed two-thirds and only had to take a supplemental exam by year-end. It's the climax of a two-year journey towards passing the Aussie boards. I've been rooting for her all the way.

Up until just an hour ago, I've been thinking it's still a year away before she leaves. Then it struck me -- hard -- it's ONLY a year away.

All this time, I've always thought how cool it would be to be able to visit her in Australia, plus the perk of having a place to stay! HAH! Now it just dawned on me how things will never be the same again.

flashback

I can say that one way or the other, we've been witnesses to each other's lives. I'm not sure, but I think our friendship started during the most critical phase of my college life, trying to balance those stubborn, damned dentures haha

Well, anyway, we were also roommates while preparing for the dental boards. Ah, brings back memories: looking out the window (we were on the top floor) salivating over the hip, newly-opened Burger King joint (back then), enjoying fireworks, listening to The Corrs and the Indigo Girls, getting a second chance at life every time we survived another rickety elevator ride.

I didn't get to take the boards with her that December, though, due to a ridiculous university policy. I took it in May the following year, and thus setting a pattern of me following her lead, making her somewhat of a mentor in my immediate post-graduate life. She signed up for the OPD-PGH oral surgery externship after passing the boards; heck, I signed up also. She got an abstracting job at Adis; I asked her to get me in too. If not for the Adis stint, I probably wouldn't have stumbled upon my line of work right now, and I'm forever indebted to her for that.

concerts

I was able to drag her to an early Paolo Santos show, back in those days when a mid-week, 30-minute night slot was all Paolo had that proved of his existence. His "Mr. Acoustic" wasn't a household name yet then, and his featured guest was a group of blind rondalla players (now how's that for coolness?).

Over dinner before the show, I remember my friend getting anxious as to what I was getting ourselves into. I was getting embarrassed myself with what I thought was a poor choice for a girl's night-out. But as everyone now knows, Paolo Santos is Paolo Santos. The show was fantastic, and we followed him into mainstream like groupies.

Then we were a group date * wink wink* at the Michael Buble concert. But, well, that's another story...

et cetera

Then even my unica hija Gravy, a bassethound, came from her Shitzu's first litter. She named her bassethound Shitzu. Go figure.

We never got to go to Sagada. We've been planning on that since college. Maybe in a couple years or so, she'll be coming back like one of those balikbayans who will tour the Philippines in a span of a month's visit. I'll make sure we'll nail that Sagada then.

reluctant cheerleader

Now I know cheering for her throughout the remainder of her quest will extract emotions from opposite poles of my being. It will both be joyful and painful.


to my friend...
My alcohol, caffeine and nicotine buddy, OktoberFest companion, my once-upon-a-time badminton pal, my friend. She's surely going to be missed....