CalypsoLair Chronicles

I’ve always been eager to celebrate the birthdays of my friends and loved ones. It reminds me of how grateful I am for their existence, for the moments I’ll reminisce about when I reach the age when I can no longer walk far without my knees aching badly, or the struggles we shared that only tears and sobs were witnesses to. It serves as a level up, sealing my relationship with friends, one level deeper in our friendship.

When it comes to mine, however, I tend to be awkward when my birthday approaches.

December is the last month of the year. It is also the month of my birth.

(Geez. Writing that line feels like I’m writing a story of a main character. Haha. Moving on.)

A lot of things are happening during December. There’s Christmas and New Year’s Eve. But what often hit me the most is the birthday of an old friend who’s long gone in this plane. He’s a close friend, someone I call “fairygodbro” and his birthday is just two days before mine. Despite him being long gone, I still miss him so much that I often honor his day in silence or make a small birthday greeting post for him on social media.

He is, after all, the very first close friend I lost to sickness.

That kind of pain?

It doesn’t leave you.

I mentioned these things as a premise of this post. Because in a very surprising turn of events, I’d like to say that this year’s birthday has been…different.

It is the kind that makes you tear up and remember “Ah… I am blessed to have great friends.”

I have made a lot of friends throughout my years, some I met during my days when I used to work in BPO, but I’ve gained new ones when I became a streamer. And this is a quick showcase of how I celebrated my birthday with bestfriends and friends forged in the fire of Mount Doom.

I was dining at 8 cuts for the first time, and I wondered if my deceased friend would have enjoyed it (he loves burgers too) when Elloh and I were surprised with birthday muffins by our friends.

(Elloh and I looks like we’re cackling over something…BL-related)

Two days after the pre-celebration with my friends, I celebrated my birthday with my bestfriend, Dee, by going on a foodtrip in Binondo, where we stuffed our faces with siomai from Mañosa, dumplings from Chuan Kee, bought toasted siopao from Shanghai Siopao, and coffee from Apologue. All of it in no particular order.

(After an hour of waiting in line. Finally. Chuan Kee’s XLB!)

(XLB from Chuan Kee)

(Apologue)

Then the next day, as soon as my work’s done, I went to BGC to meet my high school friends to also celebrate, as one of them is also celebrating her birthday, two days after mine. We celebrated her upcoming birthday by singing our lungs out at a KTV place.

If there’s another thing that I’m grateful for, it’s that I was able to reconnect with my high school friends after not being able to get in touch with them.

Another thing that made this birthday memorable was finally meeting the co-founder of NinetySix Studios, GM Villaruel, the game studio behind the game, Langit Lupa. And she gave me one of the best gifts ever: a jacket!

A week later, I was treated to a great dining experience by Hannah (also one of my bestfriends) at Hikiniku To Come in BGC.

Hikiniku To Come is Japan’s original on-the-rice hamburg. The patty is being molded in front of you and grilled on a charcoal. You will receive a hamburger patty and one bowl of rice three times. You can eat it as is (just the grilled patty and the rice) and then you can try different variations on the next two.

The last one is something they suggest: Eat the patty with rice and pasteurized egg (yolk).

She also sent me a nice Caramia cake for my birthday, a week before our dinner.

Then recently, I met with Rai (also bestfriend, haha) and Jong to have hotpot. And then, Rai gave me a gift.

It has been a very busy December. Celebrating birthdays, Christmas, and attending a Cosmatsuri as a year-ender con, I ended up getting sick for continuously going and seeing friends to celebrate and just hang out.

What strikes me the most are the gifts I have received. From cakes, to hugs, to birthday treats, and games, receiving birthday gifts are something unexpected for me. Spending birthday with people I love and care about was already a big thing, but receiving gifts made me feel like a kid again, getting all giddy.

(Lightsaber, jacket, bowl, batman pillow, journal, HOB danmei…)

(thread, sake, laptop bag)

So, as I enter a new season in life, walking forward to the next year, I am freezing these beautiful moments in my life by putting this here. To make me remember when the times are dark and when the clouds are grey, there’s a moment like this when I get to see my friends celebrating my existence in their lives.

It’s been a wonderful birthday this year.

And I hope next year will be the same.

If you’ve reached the end of this post…

Thank you, for simply being here. 🙂