urbanites

in the past week or so, i've had some kind of contact from old friends from my short stint in the late, maybe-not-so-lamented Urban Bank. for those who still remember, Urban Bank was a solid pillar in the Philippine financial community until an unfortunate series of events brought it crashing down to earth. 10 years later, i feel like part of a seminal rock band, which kind of broke up just before they hit the big time,  and the dissolution became a very hyped disaster. i left the Bank about a year before it went under, and i feel sorry for those who stayed behind then had to scurry like rats to flee the sinking ship. a sad story to this day, which culminated in the death of star banker TCB.

oh, yeah, back to my old friends. i received a message in my old Friendster account (i know, i know, i barely update the damn thing) that my friend Loida was getting married. i exchanged emails with her sometime back, and she was at a crossroads because her fiance and her had an adorable daughter and their wedding was called off. now, happy days have come again for her as she served notice that she was marrying the guy early this month. they've been together for such a long time, that there should be no other ending. congratulations, Loids!

the other contact i had (again through the trendy-in-2003 Friendster) was from the Australian transplant Maricris, who started a blog and ehem, credited yours truly for inspiring her. Maricris was the older sister/hen we had in our department, and she kept an even keel on things even though we didn't know what the hell we were doing (speak for yourself, grifter). the funniest thing i ever heard from her was her nickname during the Yuletide season (hence the name of her blog). she used to lend me Dragonlance books and that was my one-and-only time brush with fantasy novels, despite not having played any D&D and my tastes ran more along the lines of political/military superthrillers. having lost track of her in the ensuing years, i only had Friendster to tell me that she and husband moved to Oz with their daughter. she actually may have other ties to me as her sister worked with my mother-in-law in the previous decade. funny how life is.

oh, and before August ends, although he won't read this anyway, belated happy birthday, Pong Pagong! thank you for throwing me a line in 1996. it was quite an interesting 17 months.