Finding Jerry

The day I met with Mailyn and Randy, I also ran into someone I have not seen in 10 years: our Pol Sci blockmate Jerry. He called my name in Shangri-La Mall and I knew instantly it was him. One thing led to another, and that same Saturday Ches, Nico, Lei, and I had dinner with him. (I told him he must really mean a lot to Nico, if Nico could suddenly be free on such short notice. Normally setting up anything with that guy is like scheduling an audience with the Pope. Hahaha.)

It was pure serendipity and perfect timing to run into Jerry, right when we are celebrating the 13th anniversary of our freshman year in U. He was one of the boys I got close to in Block A4. I had some kind of double personality in college: my best friends were Amor and Kai, who were Good Girls in every way, but then I also hung out a lot with the likes of Jerry, Nico, and Ches, who hardly even showed up in class and were The Height of Cool that early in college. Hahaha. 

We all had great fun catching up with Jerry. We've stayed in touch with Nico thru all these years and years, but Jerry we have not seen since freshman year. So we told him to start from the top - from the time he left the university to when he went back to school to his various jobs here and abroad to building his family. Amazing what can happen in one's life in a span of 13 years. Jerry's daughter is actually in highschool now. Gasp. If we had any doubts at all about how old we've gotten, that single fact banished all of it. We are not only undeniably old - we are practically heritage. Hahaha. 

The best part was reminiscing about the good, old days, of course. Jerry was actually our blockhead. I'd forgotten all about this until Nico reminded me. So Ches is supposedly the best-looking guy in the block, and we elect someone delinquent like Jerry as blockhead? Like I always say, A4 is one deprived block. Hahaha. 

I'm not surprised why we chose him to be blockhead, tho. We all remembered how he had this way with everyone, male and female classmates alike, as well as those in between (yes, we had a lot of those in the block hahaha), and even our teachers. He is one of those people who are so warm, open, chatty, and perennially smiling. And tho he denies this, Ches, Nico, and I are unanimous in saying: he was a big flirt. Hahaha. He had this thing for our Bombshell Blockmate A and Kas I teacher ER. I kind of recalled that, like Ches, he was also the loveteam of our Comm I teacher Ms. P. The funny thing was, none of us had any memories of him actually attending classes with us. HAHAHA.

Some of the more amazing/shallow things we laughed about in the course of our dinner at Secret Recipe, and then cakes and coffee after in Cravings:

1. Jerry holds the distinction of being the only blockmate who has ever been to Nico's house in White Plains. Ches and I have both been in his Valle Verde house, but not White Plains. (Nico is a sucker for this kind of trivia. He's so gay. Hahaha.)

2. I gave Jerry a red shirt which I just borrowed from my Ches. He saw me wearing it and liked it so much that I ended up giving it to him after I had it washed. Never mind that it was my brother's and not even mine to give away. Hahaha.

3. Nico loaned Jerry a white Guess watch, a gift from his mom and all. It was with him for months and months but then Nico ran into him and saw him wearing the watch and so Nico asked to have it back. Hahaha. I love this story. It kind of shows how carefree and stupid we all were in college. And I love that Jerry had no qualms about admitting that he would have kept the darned watch if only Nico hadn't caught him with it again. Hahaha.

4. Jerry ran into our Bombshell Blockmate A a few years back and cyberstalked her, which is how he knows about her newspaper articles and athletic activities. Hahaha. Ches seems to be the more persistent cyberstalker, tho, bcoz he is actually FB friends not only with A, but all the rest of our prettier blockmates. HAHAHA. (Like Bootsie says: 'mamiac'.) 

5. Of all the girls he liked in A4, he liked me best. And he said this right under my Ches' nose. Hahaha. You gotta admire this guy's candor. But before I could even let a crazy joke like that get into my smug little head, the three guys trip all over each other explaining that it was probably bcoz I was their buddy while the other girls were out of reach and hence mere fantasies. (The Tagalog word is way more graphic: 'pinagpapantasyahan'. Hahaha.) Now I don't know if this was supposed to be a compliment, bcoz I felt vaguely insulted. Hahaha. Sure, ok, I get it - I was liked best bcoz I happened to be accessible. It's not like I had any illusions about being a bombshell like A. Hahaha. 

What a long, crazy, happy night. Must Definitely Do This Again.