Being a Godparent for the 16th Time

Characters:

Kazier "Zee" Hussin - my inaanak

Karen Beldia - my close friend; Zee's mom

Albert Velasco - or Nico, Karen's boyfriend and a good friend, too

Me, Reign and Glen - the ever chismosas

Jazz Hussin - Zee's father with some girl I don't care to know

Drei (my lovelife), Julian (the boytoy), Riztil (the stallion, baby! Yeah!), Ed (the horny dancer) - the guys who went there for the free food

Church - Glen's boyfriend

Zee's yaya, Karen's friends, Jazz' friends, and some guys I don't care about, really

We went to Zee's binyag (not tuli) after finishing half of the reports we need to send to our client. We need booze and nothing could stop us.

Though I am not Catholic, Kazier "Zee" Beldia Hussin is a very dear 2-year-old friend so I really need to go there. Drei and I arrived "fashionably late" but there were some guys who went in much much later, to our dismay. Sacred Heart Church. Ah! Yes, I know that place. When Karen (Zee's mom) and I were still housemates, we passed by that church. There was even this one time that we were so broke we have to walk from Kamagong St. corner Dungon St. of San Antonio Village to the 10th floor of the JAKA Building along Ayala Avenue. So why should I forget that holy place? Tears.

As I stepped out of the cab I saw Reign, my former colleague from PeopleSupport who is now a successful Center Manager in a call center in Caloocan. We haven't seen each other for almost a year (or I'm just exaggerating. Basta, it's that long ago na) and we hugged each other tight. You see, I am just 5'2" and Reign's almost 6 feet. Imagine me embracing The Thing. Ngyahaha! Glen, a former colleague at PS, was also there with… ahemm! his boyfriend, Church (I really cannot remember that guy's full name because it's goddamn Russian). By the way, these are the gays I was with since day one of training at STC Solutions - PeopleSupport. July 4, 2005. I will never ever forget that day. And I envy these guys, err, gays because their names are longer than mine: Reign's full name is André Phillip Loleng and Glen's, Glen Paul Diaz. To my dear mom, I want a longer name.

Anyhow, we went inside the christening room (or whatever you call it, I really don't know!). We only saw three familiar faces and like the usual me, dedma lang. Keblar. But, of course, I should be friendly because I was with Drei so I managed to pull off a smile from my nose. My kumares were kind so I wasn't able to be the devil inside the church.

I was not expecting to see Zee's father, Jazz, because he's a Moslem. You might have been ROFL if you were there. My jaw dropped when I saw Jazz, with a date. And Nico, Karen's boyfriend, was there, too.

PHOEBE: I am so loving this.

REIGN: Me, too.

GLEN: lol

Then, the old priest came into the picture. Silence.

He started with the usual things he had to do until he asked the question I was waiting to hear (being the tamed devil):

PRIEST: Are you married?

KAREN: No.

PRIEST: Why? (To Jazz) Do you love her?

JAZZ: (smiles)

KAREN: (To Zee) Come here.

PRIEST: You should be married.

KAREN: (To the priest) He's a Moslem.

PRIEST: Ohhh… (thinks) Even though! He also believes in God. (To Karen) You believe in christening so that means you have to believe in all the sacraments…

Have I mentioned that Zee wanted to get out of the room? And Nico whispered that he wanted to do that, too? I was really loving the scene.

Zee was all over the place. Of course, he wanted to sit on my lap. I missed the kid. And I was so hating the priest. I formulated a scheme to end up the homily that's really not a part of the program. I told Zee to get the huge candle from Lolo (the priest).

ZEE: Uy, lolo. Asan yung ngyanyunyanyinyi…?

PRIEST: Kaya dapat kayo, magpakasal na para sa bata…

ZEE: Uy! (goes to the priest's table) Saan? Saan?

PRIEST: Let's all stand up and chuva chuva chuva…

Effective. So, priests are impatient with kids, too. Ngyahaha! After the long program, we went to Dencio's in Jupiter St., Makati for the reception. Gawd! The buffet was good for 30 people. The guests were barely 20 in number. It was so plenty that we feasted with the sisig like it's rice. Their barbeque is a must-try, too. Drei had to gawk out everything he ate for the leche flan to have space in his enormous stomach. Then, he went back to the office.

In every occasion, like a ritual in our barkada, we went straight to our old tambayan (Digi Cafe which has a new name and I, being the lola, forgot it). I was impressed because the place was clean and sosyal unlike before. And the same as our old rituals, we sang videoke like hell.

It ended up with me going back to work to pick up Drei and have dinner with the other guys. It really was a tiring day since we didn't have a decent sleep.

Oh yeah, I will again be attending a christening on July. The 17th time. I feel like I am a celebrity. A poor one.