In case you missed it: Blue Eagle Bonfire 2008

[I took a little holiday yesterday, as did the rest of the country because it was Eidl Fitr.]

Having little school spirit in me, I would not have gone to the Bonfire had I not been in the campus the whole day anyway, doing library research.

I was so happy to see clear blue skies over Katipunan early Tuesday morning, which gave way to torrential rain in the afternoon. (Oh why did I throw away my rubber boots?) By the middle of the evening, Bellarmine field was a mudbath in parts. In my faux patent leather, I kept to the periphery.

With the lighting, my position and my camera, my images aren't anything like Gene's here. But then we all experienced it differently. Will post a short video tomorrow.

Bel field before 6pm


Bel field by 9pm

All the players were there (seriously)

C and K were afraid of the rain and did not come. I sat beside J at Gesu, where the Ateneo College Glee Club's singing made up for Fr. Ben's not-quite-a-homily. Even with the Song for Mary as recessional (odd choice), it came out solemn. You can hear it here.

Fr. Nebres had a lot of exercise going up and down the stage

There were a couple of music acts before the program, which was hosted in turns by different people, including this season's UAAP courtside reporters. Drei Felix had a fuller head of hair than I remember; Bianca Gonzalez made me think of mermaids with her nearly waist-length hair. Lia Cruz's height was always an issue. Lia and Rabeh (with Chris Tiu, below) seemed to have a score to settle offstage, but I was touched by the photo of Al-Hussaini at the foot of the cross in MT's video.

Wesley Gonzales, who was speechless in the beginning, turned out to have unapologetically acerbic humor. He had several quotable quotes that evening, but I only jotted these down:

Lia: Di ka swimmer.
Wes: Swimmer ako. Taga-Sampaloc ako, no!

Wes: Laos na ako.

Tiu and Al-Hussaini

Kirk Long and Jai Reyes

AVPs of the teams and the presentation of the five winning teams (high school swimming, college swimming-ladies, and grade school, high school and college basketball) went alright. The Blue Eagles, as expected, drew the most screams. Chris Tiu and Yuri got their "treasury bonds": an induction into the Hall of Fame in 20 years' time. Chris was smart in plugging his food stall and TV shows.

Tiu in transparent cubism

Awkward moment: US Ambassador Kristie Kenney onstage.

The bonfire was lit, Song for Mary was sung while fireworks lit up the sky. Sponge Cola came onstage. I tuned out by the time Miggy Escueta came on because my legs needed to move and I was hungry.

Although there were familiar faces, I only saw a few batchmates, like R and C. B came late and I passed by M on the way to meet him, so I ended up chatting with the two of them at Seattle's Best.

I had a vanilla milkshake before midnight. On a night such as this, skipping dinner is easy.