On a crowded day in the Big Apple, right after the American Independence Day...guess who I bumped with in the busy Port Authority in New York City?  I was standing outside the Hallmark store at 6:00 PM waiting for Inia and the kids while my wife Chona & relatives squatted on the floor from the tiring day-long walk in NYC, when a kinda familiar face walk in front of me and utter the words,"I think I know you?"....It was Manolo Tuazon!!!

     Another proof that the Batch of 78 is everywhere.  Lucky enough, Vic Edrosolan sent me his picture with Manolo few days before we arrive in New York or I  might not have recognize Manny.  He is not that petite cute guy in high school anymore.  He has grown taller and much more good-looking.  He is now a big-time New Yorker nurse.  Imagine the odds of bumping into Manny in New York City?  It's like finding a needle in a stack of hay.  We're talking Manhattan, with millions of people not Timbuktu with the population of 500.

     The irony is that we are supposed to meet Vic & Manny the day before and chanced a lunch meeting with them on that day but the timing and scheduling did not allow us to meet as planned.  I guess we were meant to see Manny who was just on his way home from New Jersey when he met us in the bus/subway station coincidentally.  We called Vic right away but unfortunately he is tied up with his teaching job but was free the whole morning and afternoon, had I only call him earlier.  My apology, Vic.

      Manny suggested the Bangkok Cuisine for dinner and he was so generous to insist to handle the bill.  It was a good treat from Manny.  Thanks very much Manny for the yummy Thai food!!!  It was a great dinner with lots of chit chats on how life went after high school.  We get to know Olong better.  In more than 2 hours I get to know Olong well, more than I know him in high school.  I'm pretty sure Inia felt the same way, too.  I have been hearing about Olong...from Pearlie, Boyet, Vic and Inia and it was a pleasure to finally meet him.  Manny is one of the stars in Romeo Kabigting's first movie.  As Manny relates, they were in the Central Park, shooting some movie scenes the other day (Boyet, I think I deserve to get your snap shot now,  in return for plugging in your movie).

      I can just imagine how Manny, Vic and Chris Jornales can add a great twist to the 2003 reunion and make it a much more fun event.  His comical nature and his laughter, like Vic & Chris, is highly contagious.  Chona & even my kids enjoyed their company.  My daughter Charmaine was actually asking for Tito Vic, hoping to meet him again.