clyde's birthday
29.11.2011
All Clyde ever hoped for for her birthday was to look at the stars. So she borrowed a telescope with a tripod from a friend just for the occasion. And last Saturday, the 26th, she went with a group to Tagaytay for a night of observation. No meteor shower, just stars, and she excitedly took the telescope with her.
But I merrily wished her "Cloudy skies!" as we closed the door of the cab we got for her and unfortunately, my wish came true. That night, in Tagaytay, the sky rained. There were no stars to be observed. Boohoo.
But Clyde's birthday was the 29th anyway, so this night, she set up the telescope along the common driveway outside the townhouse, specifically to look at Jupiter, which was a bright, steady point in the dark night sky as seen from the naked eye. I accompanied her, playing cheerful songs from my Nokia C3.
Within a short while, Abbey came along from school. "Hey, I was thinking of you guys!" she said. She was glad we had set up the telescope.
"It's Clyde's birthday," I silently mouthed to Abbey while pointing a finger discreetly at Clyde.
"Happy birthday to you!" Abbey sang in greeting to Clyde.
"Thanks!" Clyde said, as she struggled to focus the telescope on the tiny bright point called Jupiter. She looked into the eyepiece. "I think I'm seeing something!" she said excitedly.
She worked with the telescope some more, trying to bring Jupiter into perfect and sharp focus. "It's so hard," she sighed.
"I think I know what's wrong," Abbey said. She reached out with a hand and took away the cap that was covering the lens of the telescope pointed up at the sky. We laughed.
"Sabi pa niya, she thinks she's seeing something!!" I giggled with Abbey. How could she see anything when the cap was still covering the lens of the instrument? Hihihihihi.
Earlier, I was worrrying to Lala how we were going to celebrate Clyde's birthday in style when we had splurged some on Abbey, who had just had her 18th birthday, and who had just nearly lost her life to dengue.
Lala: whoaaaa really???! it hit her that hard???!
me: yeah...she had it really bad....
So Lala was saying, that if we were a little short on moolah for Clyde, that maybe we could just give her a gift of service or something. Like, for example, maybe we could lay off on the jokes on her. But that's so hard, you know. Things like the telescope thing happen, you know? (chuckling inside)
And so, a little while later that evening, when most of us had already arrived home, I went out to Rustan's to get chips and ice cream for Clyde. Clyde liked Oheya and Marty's so even though I disapprove, I got some bags, and then got also Selecta Hershey's Kisses ice cream!
When I arrived, they were already having dinner and so I sat with them. We tried to wait for the perfect time to present our "Happy Birthday!" group greeting with ice cream, but it was actually useless. Unless we'd have sent Clyde upstairs on some invented excuse, we were just really obvious.
So we pretended that chips were all we had for her and chardonnay that was not even cold. Eventually, though, we presented her with the ice cream and the happy birthday song. She blew the candle we perched on top of the ice cream and made a wish.
"Was it for Ernie?" Anj asked. Ernie was our nickname for the guy Clyde liked. I'd tell you that you know him but Clyde would totally kill me if I say that.
"No!" she denied.
Later on, we had each of us a bottle of Tanduay Ice and we merrily toasted to Clyde and her 27th birthday. "To Clyde!!!" "To Ernie!!!" "Yay!!!" Hahahahaha. "Para tayong mga lassingera," Clyde laughed as we clinked our bottles together and gulped down the Ice.
All day long, I had been bugging Clyde about Ernie and whether she'd gone on available status on ym. Clyde was online; I knew because I had been hovering about her and her laptop; but she was invisible.
She finally turned on the yellow mode and then completely blamed me for it. "Ikaw kc Cor! Now I've done what you said!"
And Ernie messaged her: Clyde! Kamusta ka na? (9:00pm) Cue "yihee!" She told him to greet her since it was her birthday.
As Clyde was chatting with Ernie, Abbey said to her to ask Ernie about the October thing. "Say to him, 'nga pala, anong nangyari nung October?'" Abbey urged her to ask.
"'Nga pala' is such a good intro, you know," Abbey observed. "'Nga pala' is like 'Oh, I just remembered...' People appreciate it when you remember things."
"I don't know; I don't think so," I disagreed. "No one is fooled by 'nga pala'. 'Nga pala' sounds like it's been on your mind and you were just finding a way to segue on to what you have in mind."
After a while, Clyde said: "I'm saying goodbye to him now. Kc wala na akong masabi."
"Noooo!!!" I protested vehemently. "Say 'nga pala'! Say 'nga pala'!"
"Well, what am I going to say?!" Clyde said.
"Say, 'nga pala, I love you'," Anj suggested.
"Say, 'nga pala, what happened last October?'," was Abbey's suggestion.
"Say, 'nga pala,'" I urged, "'I'm 27 and of the marrying age!'"
Anj and Abbey laughed. "That's so witty, you know," Abbey said. "When I turn that age, I'm going to say, 'Nga pala, I'm 27 and of the marrying age!'"
But it was at this point that the Tanduay Ice began to take its effect on me. And I began to feel hot and I went red.
"We didn't realize you were going to get drunk from Tanduay Ice, Cor!" Clyde said. "Sorry, Cor..."
I discovered I was breaking out into rashes. "Um...this looks like an allergy," I said.
"Oh no. Do you have antihistamine?" Clyde was asking us.
"No," I said, dismissing the concern. "I'll just go upstairs and fan myself in my bed and drink water."
"Ok. Don't sleep," she bade me.
"Why?" Abbey was wondering why she was telling me not to sleep.
"She might die," Clyde explained.
"Grabe naman te," Abbey joked. "Rashes lang, she might die na."
So that cut short my little festivity with Tanduay Ice which was unfortunate because it tasted so nice. I lied down on my bed upstairs and dealt with a slight headache, and I began to feel weepy, and I wept into my pillow while thinking thoughts, and after some some time, the rashes began to go away but then, Clyde's birthday was already over...
But I have one last gimmick to carry out. I'm going to create a slogan sign with Ernie's opening remark "Clyde! Kamusta ka na?" and tape it to Clyde's closet. Hehehe. She hates being teased. And those who hate being teased will get teased.
See, Clyde? Wishes do come true on your birthday! Happy birthday!
Clyde will totally kill me for writing this. Good thing I won't be telling her about this. Hehe!
All Clyde ever hoped for for her birthday was to look at the stars. So she borrowed a telescope with a tripod from a friend just for the occasion. And last Saturday, the 26th, she went with a group to Tagaytay for a night of observation. No meteor shower, just stars, and she excitedly took the telescope with her.
But I merrily wished her "Cloudy skies!" as we closed the door of the cab we got for her and unfortunately, my wish came true. That night, in Tagaytay, the sky rained. There were no stars to be observed. Boohoo.
But Clyde's birthday was the 29th anyway, so this night, she set up the telescope along the common driveway outside the townhouse, specifically to look at Jupiter, which was a bright, steady point in the dark night sky as seen from the naked eye. I accompanied her, playing cheerful songs from my Nokia C3.
Within a short while, Abbey came along from school. "Hey, I was thinking of you guys!" she said. She was glad we had set up the telescope.
"It's Clyde's birthday," I silently mouthed to Abbey while pointing a finger discreetly at Clyde.
"Happy birthday to you!" Abbey sang in greeting to Clyde.
"Thanks!" Clyde said, as she struggled to focus the telescope on the tiny bright point called Jupiter. She looked into the eyepiece. "I think I'm seeing something!" she said excitedly.
She worked with the telescope some more, trying to bring Jupiter into perfect and sharp focus. "It's so hard," she sighed.
"I think I know what's wrong," Abbey said. She reached out with a hand and took away the cap that was covering the lens of the telescope pointed up at the sky. We laughed.
"Sabi pa niya, she thinks she's seeing something!!" I giggled with Abbey. How could she see anything when the cap was still covering the lens of the instrument? Hihihihihi.
Earlier, I was worrrying to Lala how we were going to celebrate Clyde's birthday in style when we had splurged some on Abbey, who had just had her 18th birthday, and who had just nearly lost her life to dengue.
Lala: whoaaaa really???! it hit her that hard???!
me: yeah...she had it really bad....
So Lala was saying, that if we were a little short on moolah for Clyde, that maybe we could just give her a gift of service or something. Like, for example, maybe we could lay off on the jokes on her. But that's so hard, you know. Things like the telescope thing happen, you know? (chuckling inside)
And so, a little while later that evening, when most of us had already arrived home, I went out to Rustan's to get chips and ice cream for Clyde. Clyde liked Oheya and Marty's so even though I disapprove, I got some bags, and then got also Selecta Hershey's Kisses ice cream!
When I arrived, they were already having dinner and so I sat with them. We tried to wait for the perfect time to present our "Happy Birthday!" group greeting with ice cream, but it was actually useless. Unless we'd have sent Clyde upstairs on some invented excuse, we were just really obvious.
So we pretended that chips were all we had for her and chardonnay that was not even cold. Eventually, though, we presented her with the ice cream and the happy birthday song. She blew the candle we perched on top of the ice cream and made a wish.
"Was it for Ernie?" Anj asked. Ernie was our nickname for the guy Clyde liked. I'd tell you that you know him but Clyde would totally kill me if I say that.
"No!" she denied.
Later on, we had each of us a bottle of Tanduay Ice and we merrily toasted to Clyde and her 27th birthday. "To Clyde!!!" "To Ernie!!!" "Yay!!!" Hahahahaha. "Para tayong mga lassingera," Clyde laughed as we clinked our bottles together and gulped down the Ice.
All day long, I had been bugging Clyde about Ernie and whether she'd gone on available status on ym. Clyde was online; I knew because I had been hovering about her and her laptop; but she was invisible.
She finally turned on the yellow mode and then completely blamed me for it. "Ikaw kc Cor! Now I've done what you said!"
And Ernie messaged her: Clyde! Kamusta ka na? (9:00pm) Cue "yihee!" She told him to greet her since it was her birthday.
As Clyde was chatting with Ernie, Abbey said to her to ask Ernie about the October thing. "Say to him, 'nga pala, anong nangyari nung October?'" Abbey urged her to ask.
"'Nga pala' is such a good intro, you know," Abbey observed. "'Nga pala' is like 'Oh, I just remembered...' People appreciate it when you remember things."
"I don't know; I don't think so," I disagreed. "No one is fooled by 'nga pala'. 'Nga pala' sounds like it's been on your mind and you were just finding a way to segue on to what you have in mind."
After a while, Clyde said: "I'm saying goodbye to him now. Kc wala na akong masabi."
"Noooo!!!" I protested vehemently. "Say 'nga pala'! Say 'nga pala'!"
"Well, what am I going to say?!" Clyde said.
"Say, 'nga pala, I love you'," Anj suggested.
"Say, 'nga pala, what happened last October?'," was Abbey's suggestion.
"Say, 'nga pala,'" I urged, "'I'm 27 and of the marrying age!'"
Anj and Abbey laughed. "That's so witty, you know," Abbey said. "When I turn that age, I'm going to say, 'Nga pala, I'm 27 and of the marrying age!'"
But it was at this point that the Tanduay Ice began to take its effect on me. And I began to feel hot and I went red.
"We didn't realize you were going to get drunk from Tanduay Ice, Cor!" Clyde said. "Sorry, Cor..."
I discovered I was breaking out into rashes. "Um...this looks like an allergy," I said.
"Oh no. Do you have antihistamine?" Clyde was asking us.
"No," I said, dismissing the concern. "I'll just go upstairs and fan myself in my bed and drink water."
"Ok. Don't sleep," she bade me.
"Why?" Abbey was wondering why she was telling me not to sleep.
"She might die," Clyde explained.
"Grabe naman te," Abbey joked. "Rashes lang, she might die na."
So that cut short my little festivity with Tanduay Ice which was unfortunate because it tasted so nice. I lied down on my bed upstairs and dealt with a slight headache, and I began to feel weepy, and I wept into my pillow while thinking thoughts, and after some some time, the rashes began to go away but then, Clyde's birthday was already over...
But I have one last gimmick to carry out. I'm going to create a slogan sign with Ernie's opening remark "Clyde! Kamusta ka na?" and tape it to Clyde's closet. Hehehe. She hates being teased. And those who hate being teased will get teased.
See, Clyde? Wishes do come true on your birthday! Happy birthday!
Clyde will totally kill me for writing this. Good thing I won't be telling her about this. Hehe!
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