My Birthday Greetings

Since I have a habit of making non-traditional birthday greetings for my close friends, they decided to return the favor. Below are three of  the most creative (and my most favorite) birthday greetings I received from my friends.

My Surprise Birthday Cake :)

This first one is Nikki's greetings:

FOR AL 

Al, Happy Birthday.

I don’t know where to start this reminiscence of our youth and… innocence? (nyahaha!) I couldn’t think of how to tell our story from the beginning, but maybe…just maybe, our meeting never started at all, or maybe it already began with forever. Just like any other story that tells of epic battles and mythical triumphs, despite the tragedies and failures, its beginnings are obscured by the sheer enormity of its struggles. I would have loved to start this greeting with lots of “I remember…” but only one thing stands clear to me, two and more of the laughters we have shared would be among those flashes of memory that would visit me in my final moments--those few, crucial seconds where everything happy and important in my life would come rushing back.

Understand my dear epic friend that it wasn’t exactly a love-at-first-sight moment when I first saw you (hehe), but little did I know that upon having fondly gazed upon your finely sculpted features, with your unsteady gaze and awkward glances yet with eyes so keen it could almost see through darkness, I would be starting a friendship larger than anything than I have ever expected. Armed with your witty charm and unexpected but sharp comments, I have come to appreciate my loneliness, because there I have found someone to share deeper reflections with and spend my long subdued eccentricities.

You were like that proverbial knight-in-shining-armor to me who have come to carry me off or rather accompany me to places I have spent countless times imagining. You have the zeal to brighten everything even in our most depressing states and in the face of the most deluding political issues and realities. You have shared words with me that best defined our passions and imaginations and you shared this simple intellectual treats no questions asked. And may I be so cliché as to say that you were very understanding, and through our long years together I have come to appreciate your brutal honesty spiced with two or more curse words that no one could better saying.

Remember that time when we were not that close enough yet but you have put yourself out there for me to practice on my lovelorn speech for someone? (Haha!) I know it wasn’t the most comfortable thing to do on your part but for me it was like the spark of comfort that I have come to associate with you since then and it gave me the reassurance of a lasting friendship. You understood my abhorrence for youthful idealisms that I myself cannot shake off--those very ideals that have come to define my person and yours too.

Our youth, (and it wasn’t that long ago either), was one of endless dreaming…each day we replenished our stores of hopes and aspirations beneath the leafy canopy of soot laden trees of UP Manila. We have trudged along that kingdom with worn-out shoes that we resolved not to wash for it signifies so much of how we have journeyed (haha! naalala mo pa? ako kaya nagpauso non).  We contemplated on so many beliefs that went along and against the tides. Together we have idolized and appreciated lives of people who have made a life out of their philosophies. Together we strengthened our own passions, we may have failed miserably but there was comfort in having you by my side, fighting completely different battles, but with the same courage for defiance.

Al, I know you are strong and whatever you are going through right now, it’s just nature’s way of reminding you that beneath all those mountains of ideas and noble intellect lies a human. Remember the universe so avidly endorsed by our dear brethren MM, you could always shout profanities at it for taking too long to conspire for that grand design to be created just for your taking…remember never to look up at the sky for wishes, instead look within yourself for it is there that I have found a true friend…HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Al! I love you always…=))))

this second one is from MM 's  message:




Birthday Boy

prelude: ate! napressure ako malapit na mag-12 at wala pa kong message for you! sila na ang panalo bonggang bongga yung sa kanila :)

Objectives

This birthday greeting aims to
1. make al feel special
2. make him feel old

Background of the study:

The researcher was pressured to come up with the birthday greeting fitting for such a good person and to repay all the kind words he put together during the researcher's birthday celebration last May. Therefore, the researcher decided to steal time from her busy schedule to meet the deadline of submitting this before 12 midnight.

Methodology:

Descriptive

anyway (napagod ako sa kagagawa ng thesis)...

al hey its your birthday (we're gonna party like its your birthday)! looking at all the birthday greetings posted on your wall i know you've had enough of "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" greetings. So let me start by saying that you are now OLD! with this I would like to remind you that we are now on our mid 20's and we're never going back to the time of the Backstreet Boys or Spice Girls! syeeettttt! We are living in the generation full of Lady Gaga's, Katy Perry's and Kim Kardashian, of course Justin Bieber. There are times that we cannot relate to the language of the "youth of today" and we lambast them with their wrong priorities.I know Al that you will stay forever young :)

Thank you for giving me a thorough explanation on how guy's mind work, it helped me handle Pong with an iron fist hehe joke :)! I do not have enough words to say, my mind is full of numbers, thank you al. this note is just so simple but God knows how much I treasure our friendship *cry mode* i miss you al :)

to world domination!   

This short, but very quirky message is from Gem:

ikaw! Oo ikaw! Happy birthday al! Hahaha! For the only 'thorn' among the five lovely (ehem) roses of The Brotherhood.. My sincerest gratitude for sharing 9 years of your life with us! UP and adult life is impossible for me without you & your witty self. Your words, may it be just a simple curse or advices for my 3am lovelife tantrums..i just wanna say you never failed to comfort me thru them and i soo love you for that! Thanks for your mayaman days lagi akong libre sa videoke dahil gandang-ganda ka sa boses ko! Hahaha! I wouldn't mind sharing nine more years with you and the rest of the gang! Love you Al! ♥ ♥ ♥

To all those who remembered my birthday, thank you so much. You make me feel young.

It's a shame it's so tedious to post all 98 greetings from my FB walls. The three mentioned above are my top most favorites nevertheless, I loved each and every simple  "happy birthday" I received. After a tiresome trip down memory lane, I was very happy to have come home to a massive flood of greetings from my friends and family. 


Much LOVE.


Here's to  25 or more years together.


AL