One Hogi Hall bachelor gone.

PJ and Joy tied the knot yesterday at St. James the Great Parish. So there, one of the Hogi Hall guys finally got hitched. And their long-standing bet since we all graduated from high school is still on. My goodness, at this age, I know everyone already wants to lose that darn bet.

Aris had already mapped out a carpool schedule last week, as Rosa, Iam, Raffy and I are all hitching a ride with him. I was the first to be picked up, and I left the house with my hair still damp because effort talaga sa makeup. Iam was up next, but by the time we had arrived at her house, she had just stepped out of the show, hahaha! So we had to wait for her for half an hour, but we were still pretty early anyway. When Iam was done, we only had to ring the doorbell at Raffy's and he was already out the door, plus he was also equipped with coffee. Rosa, on the other hand, didn't want to rush, so it was decided that we'll just meet her at Mount McDo. We had a little breakfast while we waited for her, then off to St. James.

Huwaw, surprise! Seph had a haircut! Josh wore colorful sneakers with his suit. Paco flew all the way from Davao just for PJ's wedding. And May looked like a Turkish princess, hahaha. Once the ceremony began, our trio was giggling as Josh showed off his shoes as he walked down the aisle. The ring bearer was super adorable, and so was the flower girl. When the bride was about to walk down the aisle, holy kamote, the church doors wouldn't open, hahaha! I think they got all confused pushing and pulling the doors from both sides so it took a few moments. Of course, Joy was gorgeous as she walked with her mom to the altar. Iam just had to squeal with giddiness as we took a peek at PJ while Joy was walking, ahehehe. All througout the ceremony, there were whispered quips among our trio, so I wasn't really surprised that my bungisngis smile was immortalized yet again in the on-site AVP.

The priest seemed to be friends with the couple, or at least with PJ's family, based on how he kept putting in jokes in the homily. And the entire wedding was pretty simple and intimate. Just family and a few close friends were invited.

At this point, can I just say that this wouldn't be complete without a "Hogi moment," so here we go. I had forgotten to have my dress adjusted, so there I was, in a strapless dress that was theatening to slip, hahaha! If I was as gifted as Rosa, there would've been ample support, ahehehe. Anyway.

The traditional exit of the newlyweds required some tossing of small projectiles, so there was the usual rose petals, plus rice. They even added bubble blowers to make it more fun. Haha, Rosa wanted to both toss petals and blow bubbles, so I offered to hold her bottle of bubble solution as I was going to blow bubbles as well. Kris, on the other hand, who was one of the bubble blowers, was so excited that she almost threw her bottle of bubble solution at the couple, hahahaha!

Off the Bellevue for the reception. Shared a table with Rosa, Iam, Aris, Raffy, Seph, Mon and Den. Lamon galore. Hahaha, takaw tingin din ako. When Iam couldn't finish her food, I took it. Rosa's as well, but I still didn't get to finish everything. Ahahaha. I was still chowing down when they had already started all the AVPs. Santa banana, they even included that semi-formal high school photo of our barkada? Ahahaha.

Thank goodness PJ and Joy had "randomly" pre-selected the ones who will get the bouquet and garter. It saved the rest of us humiliation from dodging the bouquet toss, hahaha! The garter went to Paco, and the bouquet went to Clarissa (whom I vaguely knew from grade school productions).

After all the festivities, Iam was raring to go visit Zobel after the reception, while the guys just wanted to go home and just wait for an evening out. The ones who ended up going to Zobel were Iam, Rosa, Aris, Raffy and me. Because of the strict security our old alma mater had, I had managed to contact dear old Brother Ceci beforehand so we had an excuse to enter the campus aside from the mere fact that we were alumni.

There are some alumni who love coming back to their alma mater. Some hated going back. I thought I'd be one of the people who loved coming back. Now, I'm not sure. I can't really tell. Zobel's so different now. The entire campus, the faculty (save for some familiar faces), and the students. The kids are so different now. How different? Ahehehe, if you know me well, you know what I mean. But other than that, it was still great to see familiar faces from the faculty and admin, the people who knew us as little kids and were genuinely surprised to see us grown-up (wahahaha) and glad to see us visiting.

With Ms. Sabarre (3rd grade Filipino teacher), Mrs. de Vera (my first grade adviser) and Ms. Africa.
Photo courtesy of Brother Ceci.

Spent the entire visit with Brother Ceci, the school's resident storyteller. (Brother, I know you're reading this, hahaha. I really wanted to tell this part in the best way I can, pero I don't think this gives it justice.) It was amusing to see that all the kids knew him, all kept coming up to him, and he knew everyone, or at least an idea of who each of them are. He was everyone's friend. He loved talking to them, sharing stories, and in turn, he learned the story of each and every kid. Then there's another thing different from the old Zobel we grew up in. Back then, it was Brother Felix who knew everyone's name and birthday, because he called each and every one of us once a year on our birthday. Mostly small talk and whatever, and we leave his office with a stampita he gives to us as a birthday present. Rosa, Iam and I even spent every other recess and lunch periods in Brother Ceci's small office in the Campus ministry, just to talk, learn a little more from his huge book of sign language, doodle on his blackboard, and basically just hang out. These days, it's the Brothers themselves who went to the kids to talk, especially when there's something bothering them. And each of them have their own stories to tell, need a listening ear for whatever problem or obstacle they have because they don't have anyone else to share it with.

Brother Ceci told us anecdotes about certain kids he knew and watched growing up in Zobel, and even alumni he had talked to (no surprise that one of them was an actor I've sort of worked with). Hahaha, Iam and I quipped that hopefully next time we see him, we have our own story we can tell him that he can share with the kids who are dying to listen to him.

All in all, it was a good day well spent.