#On top of everything this February's theme wasn't even what I had initially planned!! The one I had initially planned was a chapter 33 pane

[kyouka-supremacy]

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[thezoeydiaries]

ENTRY #4

GALENTINES 2024 *Late Upload

Okay, so you guys turned into adults. You guys went from being 18 to all of a sudden turning 25 this year. From due papers to due bills, from all-day-every-day meetings to annual get-togethers, from experiencing life together to making life updates... no one knew being an adult would come this fast and would hit us like a ton of bricks.

My friends and I are very close. Even if we all don't get to talk on the daily, nothing really changes. We all might be going through different things in the span of a few weeks to a few months, but once we all *finally* sync our schedules and catch up with everything, it's like no time has passed at all.

I guess I'll be mentioning my friends a lot in these entries, so don't worry you guys will have plenty of time to get to know them. I'll make a separate entry for them and make detailed accounts of how they are, how I perceive them, what roles they play in my life, and overall how great they are as friends and as individual people.

So last February 25, my friends and I had a *very* late Galentines Day celebration. I believe you guys already know that GALENTINES is a spin on the words: Gal and Valentine's, which is really just a cute excuse to go on a date with your girl-friends.

Since my friends and I are really busy people (we've all been workaholics since College, maybe even longer than that), it's extra hard to schedule a meeting where everyone can take time off of work or have a free slot in their personal sched to do other things. So for the past few years, we usually end up having an annual meet-up where everyone is free. Unfortunately for this year though, Regina (or Baddie/Reggie as I call her) wasn't able to attend because she had a schedule with the DFA to get her passport ready for an important work trip abroad. And so, it was just me, Kayla (or Lulu as we call her), Alliah (or Patty/Alli), and Gayle (or Gayley).

Now that we have their nicknames in order, you guys won't confuse them for other people HAHAHAHA. Okay so back to the story —last Feb 25, we *finally* met up in Makati and I was extremely late for our date. So just a little backstory, at the last minute I had to go back to our province in Laguna for the weekend to spend time with the family and so, I had to find a way to get back in the Metro by Sunday at around lunchtime. We all planned to meet up around 1 pm, and I initially planned to leave Laguna by 8 (it would take me 2 and a half hours to reach my dormitory, and another 2 hours to get ready for the date), but unfortunately, my family had different plans and decided to take me to Manila themselves.

We left by 11 am and there was crazy traffic that day. I was incredibly frustrated (when we left I hadn't even taken a shower or eaten yet) because I knew that I'd be super late and I'd be making my friends wait for me. So when I got to my dormitory, I had to rush so much. And the thing was, the universe wasn't on my side that day.

*Insert Zoey in stress mode*

The first issue was that I had to clean my room first before I could begin preparing because I could not function in a messy environment. I don't know what it is but I just cannot ~for the life of me~ get myself together when things are untidy and unorganized. And since I left at the last minute before the weekend, my room was in complete chaos. I had to fix that first by sweeping the floors and disinfecting them with alcohol, then by organizing the clutter and putting things back where they were supposed to be (It took me almost 45 minutes to clean everything).

And then I had to find an outfit that matched the theme of the Galentines Date which was Black and Red. Again, this took me so long but at last, I went with a simple Black crop top that had "New York" plastered in front of it, some Black skort, a Red Timberland Hooded Puffer Jacket, and a pair of Red Guess sneakers.

When I finally decided what to wear and finished ironing it, I ran to the bathroom to get a quick shower and proceeded to do my skincare and my makeup, then afterward I fixed my hair. By the time that I was finished, it was already 3 pm. So I booked a Grab to go to Makati, and when I was maybe 20 minutes away (from the dorm), I realized I had forgotten my gift! GRABE! I was already pressed with time and I forgot something important pa! You'd expect me to be really upset at this point (and you were right). So I had to go all the way back to the dorm and then leave for Makati again.

While I was in transit, I messaged them and they were already done eating brunch and started roaming around. Of course, I felt awful that I had missed most of the Galentines Date, but I was more upset at the fact that I had to make them wait for so long. When I reached Makati, they told me to meet up in Greenbelt and I finally caught up to them at the Power Mac Center.

When I saw them, we all squealed and hugged each other. Kasi to be perfectly honest, super duper busy talaga kami and we rarely have the time to see each other in person, so every time we did, it was just this beautiful happy moment. Gayley gave us these crocheted flowers and mine was this super pretty Sunflower <3 (I loved it, thanks Gayle!)

After this, we were trying to decide where to go next because they already had brunch but I was still really hungry (kasi nga paano ba ako makakakain sa mga nangyari HAHAHA), so after walking around for a long time, we just ended up at Chili's lol. When we got to our table, we wasted no time and just made so much chika. When I say so much chika, I mean like SOOOOO MUCH chika (months' worth of stories, plans, and tea ;) hahaha).

We talked about a lot of things. Lulu gave us so many life updates and it was news to me that the baby girl of the group was already talking to someone. I know magkaka-age naman kami pero kasi she's literally the purest, most innocent, wholesome being you'd ever meet, and as you may have guessed, yes, NBSB sya. (Sorry for putting your business out there love you haha). We were really happy for her as she's trying to figure out how she wants to go about this whole dating thing.

Patty naman also shared stories about her work life, how she's still enjoying the party scene, and exploring her options. We're on the same page when it comes to dating. We would like to enjoy the "Single Life" and experience things on our own. I mean it is nice to have someone accompany you and make memories with you but there's a certain beauty to enjoying life on your own and figuring things out as you go. We still have a lot of "discovering" to do before we get into the dating game. And it was refreshing to hear Patty say she's just having fun and seeing where things take her. Because much like her, I'd like to take this period of my life to get to know myself more and just see what life has to offer.

Now, with Gayley naman, it's a little different. She's been in a long stable relationship with Neil for years. (He's our friend too and he's also like family). We're very fond of Neil and we all think that they're good for each other. We've known Neil since freshmen year in College, and he's a real standup guy. We see how respectful and how much of a gentleman he is, especially towards Gayle. (We love Neil in this house lol) He was also one of those people who had my back when I was in a really rough situation. Anyway, going back, she told us about her plans for the coming months including trips to Japan and Taiwan. We tried to set another get-together but the next schedule available for us is after May pa (Sabi sainyo eh mahirap magschedule sa amin haha).

We all talked some more (of course I can't tell you guys everything in detail) and I also shared personal stuff like things that happened after Nathan passed, things that happened at work, my plans for the coming months, etc. I didn't really have much to share with them because I just went through a lot over the past few months, and I didn't want to be a Debbie Downer. So after we finished eating we all went to take Lulu to the station because she was rushing to catch the Sunday Mass in Muntinlupa.

*And dahil late ako, siyempre wala ako jan haha*

After Lulu took off, we all went to a coffee shop to talk some more and we all wanted to try new hobbies like pottery and golf among other things. For those of you who don't know, I like taking classes and workshops on different things. If it were up to me, I'd hyperfixate on one hobby for a whole month and attempt to learn everything I could about that thing, and then try another hobby for the next month, and the cycle repeats. Thankfully, my friends are like that too and are more than willing to accompany me but like I said previously it's just not that easy to get us all together in one place because our schedules are always very hectic.

It was almost 7 pm when we decided to head home because we all had work the day after and siyempre dahil tumatanda na rin tayo, gusto palagi na pauwi na HAHAHAHA. So we said our goodbyes, and then Gayle and I shared a Grab kasi we're headed in the same direction pauwi. And when I dropped Gayle off, I started having all these realizations while I was on my way home.

It hit me hard when I realized that we've been out of school since 2021. Regina and I finished school ahead of Gayle, Kayla, and Alliah because they were from different courses (Although both courses were under Communication Arts) but we all shared the same graduation ceremony way back in 2022. While I was reminiscing and getting emotional over the fact that time was passing by us quickly, I was reminded by Kuya Driver that we had arrived at my destination. So I hurriedly paid Kuya and got out of the car, and as I was walking to my room I had this bittersweet feeling in the pit of my stomach.

"Tumatanda na nga kami" I said to myself as mom opened the door. She asked me how the Galentines thing went, and I told her I had fun and that I missed the girls. After telling her stories, I prepared to go to bed. After cleaning up and doing my skincare, I plopped on my bed and went on my phone to see if everyone got home safely. And that was when I opened my gallery to look at this album entitled "College Memories", and I reminisced some more until I fell asleep.

I am filled with so much gratitude toward these girls because they have been with me through the highs and lows, and even when we don't regularly see each other and talk, it's like nothing changed. They are the same people that I loved since College, it's just that we're all on different paths now but still very much a part of each others' lives. While times might have changed our routines, and we may not share the same reality anymore, it's still exciting to see what's in store for us and our futures. (Waiting na po ako kung sinong unang ikakasal haha #ReadyToBeABridesmaid).

I guess that's it for the girls' Galentines Date this year. I'll be making a separate entry about the girls in detail and the whole adulting thing.

Now, if you reached this point, CONGRATULATIONS! That was a really long read lol I appreciate you for seeing it all the way through <3 here's a star for your effort!

*CTTO of the images in this blog post.

Good night everyone, till our next entry~

Love,

Zoey from the 8th floor