About two or three years ago, the Globe network started their unlimited text promo as a response to the ever-growing market of their competitors Smart and Sun (it turned out that they were overpricing their customers with a peso per message). One of the offshoots of their promo was the creation of "clans" which are basically groups of people who are active texters and can now afford to send messages, from important ones to inane and petty updates on their lives, indiscriminately.
I joined one of these clans and got to know a number of colorful characters whose one major activity in life is to create and stoke fights in these circles, which admittedly made it very interesting. The first one I joined ended with the creator/moderator quitting, which at that time, I thought was stupid as the clan isn't entirely an official organization and had more or less became a venue to get contacts for that easy one-night stands. I joined another one which also disbanded soon after I joined (the group was already mired in intrigues, jealousy and a lot of salawahan activities). I ended up with one as me as one of the founders. It actually went well. Unfortunately, Globe stopped the promo and pretty soon, the members changed numbers and transferred to Smart and Sun who remained customer budget-friendly.
Honestly, I never got into that thing, or God forbid orgies, that commonly pervaded the groups but I was lucky enough to meet enough persons that have become and are until now, people I consider my real friends. One of these people is Teng.
Teng, is a very tall and lanky guy who loves videoke and who wants to spend at least one night of the week singing his guts off in any one of the videoke bars in the city. As much as he loves singing though, he was actually a very quiet person and would only talk if you directed a question at him. At the time I met him, he was working as a nurse in Davao Medical Center, which is the biggest and busiest public hospital in Mindanao. I also discovered that he was like me, a product of the special second-course program from the same school, Mindanao Medical Foundation College.
There were lots of time when Teng and I and five more other members of the clan would go out on a weekend night and get drunk over beer or sing at a videoke or just dance the night away, usually at Rizal Promenade, and afterwards at the Seawall. The reason why our group remained intact and strong was because we engaged in a very wholesome and friendly way with each other, free from the trappings that intimate relationships get entangled with, even if we weren't actively texting each other as clanmates anymore.
Teng had to go to Manila for a stint as a clinical instructer and most of the guys have graduated from their schools and had pursued different careers, which meant different hours and different day-offs. I, on the other hand, had to finish crazy nursing school and went to work in a call center. Soon, the clan-group I had stopped meeting up and had to settle with the occasional how-are-you texts and messages in YM.
A week ago, while I was in Cagayan de Oro City, Teng texted me that he was back home and wanted me hang-out at Rizal. Obviously I couldn't. A couple of days later, he texted to invite me to a despidida party held for him. He said he was going to Canada to work as a nurse. I helped him invite our other clan-friends and yesterday found myself at Calinan, at Teng's family's farm, eating food fit enough for a whole baranggay and drinking beer and rhum.
There were only five of us from the clan and we happily reminisced about our glory-days as the GTX clan (hahaha, the name sounded macho but stupid!), occasionally teasing each other with the persons we stupidly fell for, about what happened to who, about how we are now and how we will definitely miss each other. If any stranger happens to pass by the party, they would probably think that the party revolved around our little circle, who were the only ones boisterously laughing and cam-whored like it's the end of the world.
Here's to you Teng for the good ole memories. The world may be large, but it's getting smaller and you can never really get far enough which I know you don't want to. I hope you understand that even when friends had to go away, happy times can still be had.
These are happy times.
No comments:
Post a Comment