The Crazies: One Night Only

Last night, my Manila-based friend, Jaguar, was in town for an overnight stay on his way from Sarangani to CDO. On this night, he only wanted to do one thing - sing. So we dragged along our other friend, Levin, and armed ourselves with our best singing voice for a night of uhmmm... singing. Or should I say howling?

The night started at 9:30PM. We met up at FOAK and proceeded to the Leaning Hotel of Karaga which had VIP karaoke rooms. We chose the cheapest and smallest room, figuring that the rest of our party had almost 0% chance of coming. My two famished friends ordered chop suey, crispy pata, chicharong bulaklak, cheese sticks and rice. I had blue margarita.

While the two ate their dinner, I started singing. To my dismay, I found that my "signature song" was not on the list. I recall singing it a few months back in another room. I complained to the waiter about it. He said our room was on a different program from the costlier rooms. "Lahi man gud and lesser desk (laser disc) nga gigamit diri ma'am," he explained. We continued to bug the waiter but decided to transfer to another room anyway. We know we will never have fun singing Matt Monro and Engelbert Humperdinck.

We settled in our new room and once we were sure that the songs we liked were available, the singers in us took over. We started with our warm-up pa-cute songs followed by our "sets". Mine was New Wave, Jaguar - OPM/Rock/Pinoy Rock, Levin - ballads. Then came the birit songs. I took a crack at Irene Cara's "Out Here On My Own" and Lea Salonga's version of "On My Own". For somebody who sang tenor in high school, I did ok. Thanks to my hormone therapy, I guess.

The climax of the night was the concert/fashion show segment. It was a riot! We were only three in the room but it sounded like there were 10 people! I was the designated singer, while the other two were the dancers/models. It was so crazy that I never sang a single song straight and kept bursting out laughing. Believe me, it's so hard to keep a straight face with these two guys around.

By 2:30 AM, we were already cooling down. The songs stopped playing at exactly 3AM, just after Jaguar sang the aptly-titled last song of the night - "My Way".

We then went to the Sentro Bldg. for a quick cup of coffee and hot chocolate with pan de sal. Jaguar had to travel to CDO later that day and Levin was feeling "utai" so we hailed one of Butuan's ever-reliable orange "ato ini" vehicles and said our goodbyes at 3:30 AM.

Note: Names have been changed kay trip lang nako.