Cookie Tosser (Or, ‘Me, Mozzie, and Mmm, Beer’)

Crazy and fun Mozzie EP relaunch/pajama party last Friday evening. For me, it kinda got a little too crazy. Where to begin? The day started pretty tensely; I had to wake up earlier than usual to phone-interview someone for a publicity article. That person had to back out at the last minute, but was replaced soon enough by another interviewee. So I did that; it was quite easy to write, actually. An old friend from high school suddenly called up, while I was in the middle of doing it. He and I met up nearby later and chatted about some goings-on in our lives. Had to rush after an hour because traffic was getting heavy by 4.

After an hour or so, I’m in Makati. Got a check, finally. Waited for Marge and Mark to finish, and hung out at their office for a while. Got to talk a bit with their co-workers Zane (sweet, smart Zane!) and Char (this girl knows good movies!). Marge, ever the darling, also said hello and sat down with me a bit. Lotsa intelligent people at that place; they looked quite busy (digression: oh, I met up with Lester the day before; he used to work there as well). I dunno, I felt kinda tense again by that time, and a little hungry. I just sat by the waiting lounge and later, the smoking area balcony, when no one was there. The view was nice and the air was cooler. By the time Mark and Marge finished, it was past 8.

Fun moment en route to Katipunan: Joni Mitchell’s “River” played, and all three of us just sang along, each of us stopping every few lines to praise it or mention anecdotes about the song and the singer. For whatever reasons, some of the loudest parts we sang were the lines: “I’m gonna make a lot of money and I’m gonna quit this crazy scene!” and “I made my baby cry.” Brilliant, brilliant song, that.

Got to the place some time past 9 and we soon got pizza, sisig and beer (yay, free food and beer!). Kaze performed a rousing set, which included an awesome celtic-rock rendition of Heart’s “Alone” and ohmigod, a cool and edgy cover of the Spice Girls’ “Two Become One!” They were followed by a good ska band whose name I can’t remember right now. Sweet! By that time everyone was dancing, and/or jumping, including me. Another band, Top Junk (I think), followed. Damn, it was a great night for good music and musicians. Had about maybe six beers, at this point. Rollie, star photog and nice fella, took a candid pic of me. I think I was sitting down and feeling my body reacting to the booze.

Finally, Mozzie. Woohoo! Cool to finally sing along--well, actually, in my case, I was yelling along--now that I know the words. They actually made New Kids On The Block’s “Step By Step” cool! That was an unexpected cover. Wish “So Bad” got played though. But it was still typically fun (I want the full-length album now, Mozzie!). By my ninth beer, their set was over. And I was slumped face down, on the table. I was clutching the pajama shirt (is that what it’s called?) that Pam generously handed earlier. Felt Mark tug it away from me about three times, and he whispered that I should shake off the dizziness, pronto.

Dunno how long I was that way. In my head, I was ordering my body to handle it, to control the alcohol, but all I could feel was an urge to just surrender. I eventually stood up, walked rather zigzaggingly to the rest room, and just tossed my cookies. So icky and unsexy. I’d rather not go into detail. Good old Mark was alternately teasing me and helping me out. “Amateur,” he said (among other things), while handing me two glasses of cold water. I washed my face and hair, for all the good that did.

I apologized to Pam and Mark minutes later because I felt like I failed, somehow. But they were nice and cool about it. Mark loaned me cab money; I actually had more than enough to take a taxi home. But I took it anyway, because I was too out of it to refuse. Will give that back soonest, dude.

Very few hours of sleep, a near-empty stomach, and beer, I discovered, added to a recipe for disaster. As soon as I got home, I bathed, and just crashed on my bed. Three hours later I woke up with one freaking headache. Two hours after that, I barfed again. I was able to catch some z’s, and felt sober enough to leave for the other office, to pick up something for an assignment.

So that was that. I had fun. This overgrown kid-at-heart did learn something from it. And to John and Dicky, no, I’m not troubled or anything, thanks for the concern. I just had to unwind, and that did calm my nerves. I just overdid it, I suppose. Worry not, boys.

Whew. Whatta night. Thanks a bunch for the awesome party, Mozzie and friends!