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My Birthday Diary - Part 4 (Surprises)
Hello, Friends!
"It ain't over 'til it's over" seems to be the theme of my new natal year. My birthday was on the 24th of July. It's now the 9th of August. Two nights ago, what was supposed to be just a casual dinner at a friend's place turned festive.
It was at Ricks's spacious apartment on Robinson Road. He gathered a few of our common friends together with a promise of serving Filipino dishes. I arrived late. Everyone was already settled. Monica, Patrick, Billy. Hugs, kisses and laughs all around. Having just arrived from overseas, Rick hands me a belated birthday present-- a beautiful bottle containing vanilla oil from Italy.
Rick's helper cooked adobo, but using lamb instead of pork or chicken. The pinakbet was similarly westernized. The succulent veggies were artfully laid on a dish, drained of the salty brown stew. Everything was delicious.
After dinner, Patrick emerged from the pantry with a chocolate cake. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday," afterwhich *I* was egged on to sing a song. None of my friends who were present that night has heard me sing before-- few of my friends have actually taken the trouble to come see my show. Bah. So I obliged their request, picking the super-easy Nat King Cole standard, "Unforgettable."
We still had plenty to catch up about, but we broke the party at midnight. Rick had to get up at 5AM for a training session at the gym.
***
Chris and I dropped by Volume last night to say hello to our good friend, Joseph. We knew Joseph would be busy with New Arrival Wednesdays, Volume's midweek Happy Hour for the out-of-towners and the boys who want to play with them. So Chris and I planned to just stay for one drink and then head for home.
Joseph surprised us, however, by quietly setting red candles and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot on a corner table while Chris used the rest room.
I knew Joseph had been planning a candle-and-champagne tete-a-tete for myself and Chris as his birthday present to me... "You should have told me you guys were coming..." Joseph lightly scolded. Chris was away for three weeks on business and had missed my birthday. Joseph was obviously excited to see him again. "We just came to say hi to you and Evan," I reasoned, overwhelmed yet again by Joseph's kindness and attention. The club was hopping that night, after all!
During particularly boozy nights while Chris was away, Joseph would kid that, "Chris just called up to ask me to look after you."
So there we were, Chris and myself, in the remaining minutes of Wednesday night, drinking champagne by candlelight, surrounded by out-of-towners gyrating to the seriously irresistible 80s dance tracks played by Evan.
***
Right before our little trip to Volume, Chris and I made a late-night visit to our good friend, top celebrity photographer Norm Yip. I needed a professional headshot for my audition at The Sands in Macau tomorrow. Unfortunately, all studious I visited would not do a rush headshot job. I would have had no other choice except to crawl into one of the sundry passport photo shops to ask them to produce an 8 x 10 print for me-- a thought I did not particularly relish, since a gig at The Sands is potentially worth a lot of money.
Enter Norm to the rescue, at 10PM (!!). He invites me and Chris to come over any time after dinner. Norm is steam ironing the gray backdrop himself when we get to his studio. Chilled bossa is smoothly spilling from a high-tech sound system as Norm putters about, setting up his equipment. We chit chat.
Half an hour later, we have a handful of good shots from the dozens that Norm has taken. Although there were a lot of fun, silly shots that showed personality, Norm and Chris voted on a capture that projected a sunny, youthful image.
Rabbi James Gannaban, 9 August 2007, (c) Norm Yip Photography
Norm enthused that I was easy to photograph-- much easier than the executives whose portraits he has to take for their company's annual reports. (Duh.)
Norm charged me a pittance-- only a fifth of his usual fee for a sitting, not to mention that mine was a rush job in the middle of the night. Of course Norm endlessly reminded me that he had to set aside a million other things to accommodate me. (What a sweetheart.) Hehe. And then Chris picked up the tab-- his birthday present to me, he said, since he had forgotten to pick up a present in Cambodia.
***
I'm surrounded by such loving beings. How did I get so lucky?
To channel Julie Andrews as Maria in The Sound of Music, "Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good."
Thank you, God, for giving me great friends.
With Affection,
Astron
"It ain't over 'til it's over" seems to be the theme of my new natal year. My birthday was on the 24th of July. It's now the 9th of August. Two nights ago, what was supposed to be just a casual dinner at a friend's place turned festive.
It was at Ricks's spacious apartment on Robinson Road. He gathered a few of our common friends together with a promise of serving Filipino dishes. I arrived late. Everyone was already settled. Monica, Patrick, Billy. Hugs, kisses and laughs all around. Having just arrived from overseas, Rick hands me a belated birthday present-- a beautiful bottle containing vanilla oil from Italy.
Rick's helper cooked adobo, but using lamb instead of pork or chicken. The pinakbet was similarly westernized. The succulent veggies were artfully laid on a dish, drained of the salty brown stew. Everything was delicious.
After dinner, Patrick emerged from the pantry with a chocolate cake. Everyone sang "Happy Birthday," afterwhich *I* was egged on to sing a song. None of my friends who were present that night has heard me sing before-- few of my friends have actually taken the trouble to come see my show. Bah. So I obliged their request, picking the super-easy Nat King Cole standard, "Unforgettable."
We still had plenty to catch up about, but we broke the party at midnight. Rick had to get up at 5AM for a training session at the gym.
Chris and I dropped by Volume last night to say hello to our good friend, Joseph. We knew Joseph would be busy with New Arrival Wednesdays, Volume's midweek Happy Hour for the out-of-towners and the boys who want to play with them. So Chris and I planned to just stay for one drink and then head for home.
Joseph surprised us, however, by quietly setting red candles and a bottle of Veuve Clicquot on a corner table while Chris used the rest room.
I knew Joseph had been planning a candle-and-champagne tete-a-tete for myself and Chris as his birthday present to me... "You should have told me you guys were coming..." Joseph lightly scolded. Chris was away for three weeks on business and had missed my birthday. Joseph was obviously excited to see him again. "We just came to say hi to you and Evan," I reasoned, overwhelmed yet again by Joseph's kindness and attention. The club was hopping that night, after all!
During particularly boozy nights while Chris was away, Joseph would kid that, "Chris just called up to ask me to look after you."
So there we were, Chris and myself, in the remaining minutes of Wednesday night, drinking champagne by candlelight, surrounded by out-of-towners gyrating to the seriously irresistible 80s dance tracks played by Evan.
Right before our little trip to Volume, Chris and I made a late-night visit to our good friend, top celebrity photographer Norm Yip. I needed a professional headshot for my audition at The Sands in Macau tomorrow. Unfortunately, all studious I visited would not do a rush headshot job. I would have had no other choice except to crawl into one of the sundry passport photo shops to ask them to produce an 8 x 10 print for me-- a thought I did not particularly relish, since a gig at The Sands is potentially worth a lot of money.
Enter Norm to the rescue, at 10PM (!!). He invites me and Chris to come over any time after dinner. Norm is steam ironing the gray backdrop himself when we get to his studio. Chilled bossa is smoothly spilling from a high-tech sound system as Norm putters about, setting up his equipment. We chit chat.
Half an hour later, we have a handful of good shots from the dozens that Norm has taken. Although there were a lot of fun, silly shots that showed personality, Norm and Chris voted on a capture that projected a sunny, youthful image.
Rabbi James Gannaban, 9 August 2007, (c) Norm Yip Photography
Norm enthused that I was easy to photograph-- much easier than the executives whose portraits he has to take for their company's annual reports. (Duh.)
Norm charged me a pittance-- only a fifth of his usual fee for a sitting, not to mention that mine was a rush job in the middle of the night. Of course Norm endlessly reminded me that he had to set aside a million other things to accommodate me. (What a sweetheart.) Hehe. And then Chris picked up the tab-- his birthday present to me, he said, since he had forgotten to pick up a present in Cambodia.
I'm surrounded by such loving beings. How did I get so lucky?
To channel Julie Andrews as Maria in The Sound of Music, "Somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good."
Thank you, God, for giving me great friends.
With Affection,
Astron
