Dreaming and the Dinner Dance

Almost a week has passed since I went to the Dinner Dance for the alumni of Wesleyan University – Philippines, and it is largely because of my laziness that I’m blogging about the event just now. Better late than never, so they say, anyway :P

First off, I didn’t have an idea that it was a dinner dance affair to begin with; I was invited by my former Managing Editor to come round the university grounds for an alumni homecoming and a chance to meet up with my former colleagues in the student paper. One of the first questions I asked him regarding the event was, “What should I wear?”

Jasper (Lolo Jasper, the managing editor when I was EiC) was succinct: strictly formal. Honestly, I didn’t give much thought about it anyway, and I proceeded to buy something that looks formal enough. Lo and behold! I was pretty much taken aback when I arrived, I didn’t bring my dancing shoes ^_^

Then came registration. If I was surprised that I was attending a rather formal dinner, my former mentors where even more surprised to see me! Actually, I was the only alumnus from the engineering department to attend (not counting those who proceeded to teach in the department after graduation) and I’d gladly bet that they (my teachers) weren’t expecting anyone to come. And to cap things off, they didn’t even ask me to pay the registration fee (but I guess they just forgot all about it) :)

So there I was, the lone alumni from the engineering department. My colleagues at Genre (the student paper), Jasper and Jenna, were emcees during the event so I was sitting alone until Joy and Aiza showed up. Nonetheless, I got to mingle with some more former instructors and I got round to catch up with the latest happenings on-campus.

Joy and Aiza came as dinner was about to be served, and we exchanged pleasantries and stories while eating (the food was really good ^_^). It dawned to me that everyone else is progressing in their respective careers: Joy is now an account executive, Aiza now holds office as Office of Student Affairs director, Jenna’s gone back to Law school (I’m still hoping that I get the chance, too), and Jasper’s raking in twice as much as my monthly salary.

Yeah, yeah, I’m feeling a bit bitter over my job as of the moment, for various reasons. Well, at least I’m not on the bottom list since Vernon (the former EiC before me) is yet to join us as alumni. (Jay, we hope and pray na matapos na ang pagma-major mo ng CE at PE, hehe)

After the dinner dance, wherein we ate everything they served (and we did EAT much) and never danced, we went to a local café and continued our talks about our lives and careers. Our discussions (and pretty much gossip-sharing, and in my case, listening ^_^) led to some business plans.

We all share a common view: entrepreneurship is the key, being an employee will never be enough. Until the early hours of the next day, our discussions progressed into how we’ll build a 5-storey commercial center with the following specs: the first floor will be for a café (we did enjoy our time at that café so we wanted our own ^_^), the second floor will house an internet shop (this is really my suggestion), the third floor will be for a nursery of some sort (they said it might work in Cabanatuan), the fourth floor will have a call center (so Jasper can start his own, harhar), and the fifth floor shall contain law offices for Jenna.

It might be a joke now, but who knows, right? At least my night was spent fruitfully; I got to meet up with old friends even if we work very much apart.

It’s really nice to have that chance to come together after a long time apart, and spend that time just fooling around with childish fantasies. Such moments are what make life a bit more colorful and fun, right? It is for moments such as these that make me wanna stay here, coz as they say, “Walang ganyan sa States.”

Right, Jom? (Btw, we are all looking forward to your homecoming. For sure, kumpleto kami lahat when you get back here ^_^)

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Note: Thanks to our sponsors (yeah, yeah, this is Aiza’s line but I’ll borrow it ^_^), Pepsi, unlimitxt, and Kyle’s. Of the three, Kyle’s lng ang totoo. Hehe.