'Throughout life's battles thick and thin~'

What makes (my) high school never-ending is perhaps the proximity of everybody's house to each other. Unlike in college, we could easily text one another and expect the group to turn up in a mere hour or two (or maybe three, as is the case for the perennially late friend).

To celebrate the birthday of one of our friends and the new job of another, the two invited us to a libre--a night of karaoke and food and kwentuhan and tunog-tao jamming session. Despite the lateness of the hour, the night-out pushed through and we were loathe for it to end.

When we arrived, the first song we looked for was "anything Arashi." There were songs in other languages, after all. Unfortunately, none of them were the ones we (my fellow Japanophile friends) know, and no Arashi either. So I settled at watching them sing their hearts out despite not knowing more than half of the songs they chose. My cluelessness of the current mainstream music scene made me think of re-aligning my priorities when it comes to music, to be honest.

With food enough for ten people included in the package (we were seven), it was "Happy birthday, Carlo!" indeed. And when our time was over, my pop-stars-in-the-making-slash-marching-band-members-wannabe friends made impromptu performances of the songs they were not able to sing, as well as special renditions of a song that is "beloved" for all of us. My instinct as the secretary of the group kicked in and I had to record the performances while trying to stifle my laughter at their silliness. When we watched the videos later, all of us were clutching our sides--sobrang sabaw lang talaga.

Since we don't want to part yet (haha), we stayed in a nearby coffee shop and talked and laughed the rest of the night, a couple were even so groggy they slept on the table while the rest of us discussed life and prospective carreers, and even planned our upcoming trips--from Palawan to Davao to Paris to London.

I find it really amazing we're still marching forward with each other for company. When I entered college I was warned that the longest time one's friends from high school will remain to be his/her companions will be three years. After that, I was told, everybody would drift farther and farther away. I'm glad it's still with these ridiculous people I share plans for the future with, and the same ones I would go on my out-of-town trips with in the coming months.

Hi, gheis <3