Presscon, class reunion, despedida etc.

My social calendar has been full.

First on the agenda was the class reunion of our UST AB Journalism Batch XX in Benjo’s Makati Condo. We had fun recalling old times, loading on red wine, singing to death and yours truly was endlessly being teased “Juju, may boobs ka na?!” (gosh, may kambal pa nga eh). Carol even brought her old albums reminiscent of padded shoulders, Kung Fu shoes and Aqua Net hairspray. .A big shout-out to our batchmates living abroad: please make your presence felt and join our YahooGroups today.

Photo shows moi with Brad Geiser (a.k.a. The Amor Maclang’s better-half) with Timbuk2 Bags’ dapper brand manager Jose Tañada at the launch of Timbuk2’s “Blogger Bag” in TGI Friday’s Glorietta. Brad is shown carrying the messenger-style bag which is a “Crumpler killer,” so I was told. It is water-proof, abrasion-resistant and is made of military standard ballistic nylon. With how it’s made, you can bring this bag to Lebanon or Iraq, if you want to 😛 The bag also has “built-in, corduroy lined laptop sleeve ” which protects one’s prized laptop from shock. There are also nifty things like a key tether, a holder for your iPods or MP3 player and other compartments essential for blogging-on-the-go. The question is: would I buy this bag? Should I, could I? The answer is yes… if only I had the mind to invest first in a laptop.

More about the bag launch and blogging PR policy in my Blog-O-Rama column this week.

“You promised me you’ll hand me over your Little Black Book of boyz and toyz, now all I get is that cozy lunch despedida of torta, leche flan and paella?!” ..and so I will surely miss The James Ong who’s moving on from his job as gofer/editor of Metro Magazine for an online venture in the great-island state of Singapore. Quotable James who I remember from the following conversation:

” I realized that what I really need is a companion, and not a lover!”
“Well maybe then you should become a lesbian?!”

Guess who said what?

James’ stariray guest list included the following: (from left) film producer Raymond Lee (fresh from the successful screening of ‘Endo’); Delan Robillos, director of CANVAS Gallery in Bonifacio High Street; Lito Zulueta of Philippine Daily Inquirer and Metro HIM managing editor Jerome Gomez.

Finally, I was also able to see again Prof. Oscar Campomanes who hosted me in Greenwich Village during my 1998 New York visit. Gee, ’twas such a long time ago Prof, yet this is such a small world we live in. Hope to see you again!

James’ despedida was held at the Casino Español de Manila (otherwise known as the Spanish Club of the Philippines) Predictably so, the menu consisted of Spanish favorites like callos and paella and everyone agreed that they serve one of the best Spanish food hereabouts. More on Casino Español in a future post.