City Barn

Last Saturday, I wanted to attend the music min practice for our CLP. My father had a talk about Christian family in the Couples for Christ CLP in our parish so the whole family supported him through our sharing. It was a welcome experience for me since it has been a while since we did that. Also, I was able to advertise our CLP to the titos and titas there. Hehe. I told Ryan that I and my sister would immediately go to the practice right after our sharing. Unluckily for us, the practice ended earlier than we expected because the music min already knew the songs. Good thing that my chapter dropped by the chapel on their way home. I was able to meet them and perhaps because I missed them (because I knew they were already going home and some other reasons), I hastily asked them to go out! Since it was last minute (not all of them asked for permission and did not really prepared money for it), we just opted to go somewhere near and affordable. There’s this coffee shop called City Barn. We thought this would be a good place since all we needed was a place to have good conversation.

We were almost on the entrance of this place when we heard people singing and saw this videoke monitor with some lyrics displaying. I thought, ‘Oh, great. There are no band playing so maybe this is their entertainment when there are no live band performances….’ I know my chapter mates would not back down on any opportunity to sing so we went in. While walking towards our chosen table in the corner of the room, I got a glimpse of the video being played as background of the lyrics in the videoke monitor. It was Katya Santos… In all her naked glory! I thought, ‘maybe it’s one of those videoke machines that shuffles its vidoes and it just so happened that this song had that not-so-wholesome video.’ The girls in our chapter initially sat in the couch facing the videoke monitor while the guys sat in the wooden chair facing the girls. We ordered and all when Anthony whispered to me to look at the monitor. I looked and saw Maui Taylor… and her fully exposed body (well, minus the thingy that is covered by this large shell. Hehe.)

I thought, ‘What the hell has this place been?! Isn’t this the coffee shop that we pass by daily?!’ Upon further ‘inspection’, we realized that they were showing Viva Hotbabes Hot Stuff Video followed by the Sex Goddess video thingy by Asia Agcaoili and Patricia Javier. I really felt a bit embarrassed because all of my companions are girls and there were only 3 guys in the group. Wrong place, wrong crowd. But then we thought, ‘Oh well, we might as well enjoy since we are all here.’

We enjoyed the night having a bit more personal conversations and a lot of singing our hearts out. It was just weirdly funny that groups of men started arriving and would choose ladies to sit with them. If my memory serves me right, this kind of place is one of the least wholesome places one can go. But during that time, we are already into the singing that we didn’t mind. We went out to enjoy and that’s what we’re doing. Hehe. We ended the night with group singing with the microphone being passed around. This time it was ‘Picture of You’ by Boyzone. I think the people in City Barn were more shocked by our nonchalance than us being surprised by their sudden ‘change of business.’

PS: When we were billing out we could not find the waitress that was taking our orders, serving our food and helping us pick the videoke song (their service was personalized). We later found her sitting in one of tables entertaining some ‘visitors.’ Talk about double duty and job rotation!

Cherifer Boys

I was suppose to write a post on how the Cherifer boys had another gimmick in The Basement in Eastwood that lasted until the next morning when I realized that I haven’t really written anything that gave this group their due recognition. So I’m changing the goal of this post to the Cherifer Boys introduction and probably honor them along the way.

For anybody who has seen me, Ryan, JM, JB & PA, they’ll surely know the relevance of the name. Haha! We basically have the same height – I think the politically correct term for that is ‘vertically challenged.’ Haha! But why did we allow ourselves to be named as this? I don’t exactly know the answer. Maybe because nobody really had any violent reaction against the name. After all, it sure is funny to someone who knows each of us individually. It only proves that we don’t take ourselves seriously. Life is too short to be serious all the time. If we could bring out laughter in somebody, then it’s all good right? Also, I never really felt insecure about my height. It has never put me at a serious disadvantage because of the other talents/skills that the good Lord has bestowed on me.

I guess it’s one of those times when you realize you found something good. I’ve known each of these guys individually and I didn’t realize how a blast it would be if we bond. For me, what makes it a blessing is the fact that we are all servant-leaders in SFC. We’re on the same age bracket, all of us are active in the community, most of us share the same struggles in service and even life, most of us share the same interest and the list goes on. What could have been accomplished in say two year’s worth of friendship, we accomplished in 2 months… or something like that. This is due to the decision to just be open and honest without the worry of being judged or gossiped about. You wouldn’t believe all the things we have talked about. It’s very freeing. We try our best to help each other in living out an authentic Christian life despite all the distractions and temptations our generation holds. I know we are far from perfect, but that’s not the point….. Plus we are each other’s supporters when it comes to that matter called ‘love’ and ‘women.’ Hehe. *Hint Hint*

I’ve been in an all-boys environment in High School and I’ve made good friendship similar to this. I guess what makes this group different is the spiritual aspect. Yes, we’re gimmick and drinking buddies. We party hard and drink harder every now and then. But we also pray hard, serve hard, praise hard, and most importantly, we all chose to take the ‘road less traveled by…’ Where in the world would you find men that after they went clubbing and drinking actually prayed and thanked the Lord during breakfast for all the blessings that He has given them that night? Yes, we are weird, I know. But this is one weird thing I am comfortable and proud accepting.

I do not know what the future will hold for us. Given that PA now has a night-shift job, I am unsure if we’ll be able to meet regularly again. Who knows, we might even disband because of one important thing that’s keeping us together – girls! Or somebody might start an issue on us, causing us to distrust each other. A lot of bad things can happen to good people. But I am optimistic that as long as we are under the love and guidance of this community called Singles for Christ, we will be OK. I have learned to surrender myself to Him lately and this is no exception. I am lifting up the friendship to the greatest Cherifer boy up there who gave it to me…..