A Tale of Two Reunions-Part 1-Finding the Lost Shepherd

You have all heard of the parable of the lost sheep, right? How about the lost shepherd? Its not in the Bible, but in the lores of the class of '83. The class " pambawi" ( sa mga kabuangan natun) Fr. Imbo Barrozo surfaced and happily we had an excuse to have the first of the get-togethers last August 13 at the Eastwood City. Fr. Imbo is about to leave for a three year assignment with Sorsogon's "sister" diocese Kansas. Aside from Jayhawks, Kansas is known for their excellent beef - basi lamang yadto si Baka-King, Cula, matuparan man ni Fr. Imbo.

Captured and not about to let go! Gerrox shows Fr. Imbo how much he has been missed by the class of '83

Aside from the usual how do you-do's and other gentlemanly conversation...

and the ubiquitous posing for pictures as most showbiz personalities are wont to do...

Meo as usual dominated all the conversation, lain kami makasingit! Katabil ni Meo!

Of course, Fr. Imbo also wanted to know how many wives and children Balag and Haile already have. The usual answer is five wives and no acknowledged children and they happily told Fr. Imbo that is the new limit allowed by the Vatican announced daw a couple of hours ago that is why only a select few know about it. Palusot pa gihapon...

Ako lang tabi naka uniform pa san class t-shirt

Reunions are opportunities for Balo and Fr. Imbo to ruminate on why their intrams teams were consistently in the last place during all four intramurals of OLPS from '79-'82. ( A world record I am sure, hehe)

Vice lost in his thoughts on how he can raise the GDP growth of Makalaya to 25% annually. Irinuman nalang nagtatrabaho pa si Vice Mayor!

Gerrox showing the world how long Haile's hair has become since his infamous haircut in 1980. In contrast, Fr. Imbo and Balo show hairdo headed in the opposite direction

Pero happy Boy si Haile! There might soon be a Haile III, for the sake of the world and the female population, we pray he takes up after Haile Sr. , and not Jr.! Let's drink to that!

Napansin si Atty Haile, simple lang sige an pag pahid pahid sa bado ni Fr. Imbo

A closer look for stronger evidence...

...duwang kamot pa this time while everyone was looking somewhere else hehe...

and another one bites the dust! The Vice mayor's turn to be literally made a "trapo"-pahidan and not what you think hehe

pirmi biktima si Fr. Imbo, bagan baga an santo sa simbahan na in pupunasan sin panyo, Meo trying to be part of the latest craze!

Pati ako nadale, kaya pahid man ako kan Meo hehe lain nakahalata

Urit pa san nadakop! Sino ngaya gwapo, aber? ako o ina na nasa background?!

masiramun baga na piricturan... tapos pahid ulit kan Balo, lain lang halata...

Pero happy Boy ini talaga niyan! Showing his wild side and then simpleng pahid kan Balag taas nan baba

An Hubog...

an maaaluhun ( naks!)...

An feeling pogi...

An gutom...

an pilaw...

an nakatindog pa!

an kakatapos lang...magkaon

from all those present and those who were absent...

as Balo has said for and in our behalf...

... from all of us to you, Fr, Imbo-(last hirit na pahid ni Haile)!

a toast to your good health, to a new set of great friends ( like "ehem" us) at Kansas, God-speed on your journey...

May you be free from all the pasimpleng pahid of Haile...

while you are away we will keep the "83 bonds tight and happy...

until we meet again!

Fr. Imbo, the great pang bawi of the Class of '83!

In the Eye ( Mouth ?) of Ondoy

The real story behind Ondoy Started in Sorsogon City. Lain gud totoo ina na mga intra tropical convergence zone sa sabi san Pag-Asa. Tropical depression daw? Lain talaga. Nagbatog ina kay nagkrarantahan an mga Batch'83 sa Casa Dominga, before going to Manila. lain man sa nagsusupon kita tabi, constructive cristicism baga an tawag sadi. Kama raot daw ( daw ha?, Please do not quote me) san bosses, nakabilog sin bagyo.

Sorsogon-based OLPS "83 superstars Dennis Donor, Ferdz Marbella and Raul Jeresano, plan trip to manila at Casa Dominga

San turn na ngani ni Ah-oh, The Rey Valera of Batch'83, pati ritratista nagtarakig. Kitaa kay lain malinaw an picture.

Poor picture has more to do with Camera Shake than the quality of the voice of the Singer. Ah oh with his most loyal fan, AA Apostol.

Ay sus, pag abot sa Manila Karantahan ulit. naurit na baga an Mahal na Diyos...

Toasting to the good times past, present and future, Ferdz, Donnie Boy and Ronel Magdamit

Warning daw, pinauranan sin grabe hopefully madara. Wara lamang kamatian san grupo. Nothing short of a flood of Noah's proportion would have deterred these future singing superstars from practicing their craft.

The initial salvo of rains had the cars outside the hotel doing their best imitation of mini submarines

Lain pa man baga gihapon. may second set pa daw. pa toast toast pa baga an mga Kulokoy, inupod pa si Ngipoy ( may Rhyme pa) na minsan lang ngani makauli.

"A toast to the brotherhood, we may just be three but together we are awful, este awesome palan, we speak for the entire class!"

Lain man daw sinda hadlok san mga baha baha. Nag pa pedicure pa ngani si Ferdie

"I canno be bothered by such weather disturbances, said One Komiks character to another , Tams to Ngips. I'll have a pedicure. Pls. call Ricky Reyes"

So rain kept pouring and the waters kept going up...Did I forget to mention that this get-together was at that hotel in Marikina near the Riverbank?

"Tubig lang mahadlok kita?, Kaya ngani may height baga kita"

Nawaraan pa ngani kuryente....amo na idto medyo nagkaharadlok na....

Let not the darkness of night cloak our enthusiasm!

Urulian na ngaya kay sobra na ini sabi ni Ronel. Everyone else had evacuated from the hotel, inlcuding the hotel staff, after all, the water had all but covered all of the first floor of the establishment. No electricity, lunch, merienda or dinner. Just plain old Johnny Black and a city full of water as chaser.

"May exit strategy kami pirmi, that is one of our key learnings at OLPS"

Sabi ngani ni Ronel, kaya ngani nag udong na ako mag seaman kay habo ko primi napapalibutan san tubig. An deposito baga sadto sa OLPS siya nan si Perry and para linis!

This must be what Noah saw, more than 3,000 year ago!

Unitl the next time, "glug-glug-glug". We will live to fight another day! Until the next reunion!! an Lain nag butwa, P_y_s!