...how about that one back in 2002?
Wow, I can't believe it has been almost 7 years since then. But I still remember when more than a handful of ka-batches got together, both back home in Pinas (graciously hosted by Albert "The Law" Ocampo) and online.
Simply put, it was memorable, and was a portent of things to come for our batch. What followed was the mother of all reunions, The China Reunion of 2003 (actually, July 26, 2003 at the Island Cove Resort & Leisure Park, Kuwait, Cavite).
Unfortunately, life goes on. While we had a spattering of mini-reunions through the years, nothing came close to these ones in 2002 and 2003. But life springs eternal! I feel another cyber-reunion formenting in our collective minds! So, let's plan ahead for another one! Lord knows we can all use the distraction!
To get us in the proper frame of mind, I thought I'd post the mass e-mail I had sent to the batch following the 2002 cyber-reunion. I think this would assist us in planning...oh, I don't know, Cyber-Reunion 2009?
So, The letter was dated sometime in 2002, and it reads "Dear 'Maalaala Mo Kaya?'"... Just to add to what Joel has succinctly discussed regarding our recent cyber-reunion:
It was fun talking (OK, you were talking, I was typing) to everyone last Saturday. Although I was barely awake the last few minutes I was with you. I’d like to thank Joti, Jommel, Adonis, Jawel, Albert, Moises, Edz, Raymond and Meg for stopping by the laptop to talk to me. Although I was pretty wasted at the tail end of the whole thing, I might have forgotten a few names. The whole experience was pretty weird, though. I felt like I was in a coma. I could hear everyone but nobody could hear me. I felt like Adonis had to come really close to hear what I was whispering, then he’d turn around and pass my message to the rest of the group. I would also like to thank Marie for hooking us up. Thanks, Marie! (laguna.net, right? WORD) Finally, like I had mentioned to Adonis that day, Marivic and Corinna both sent their regards to all of you. They had other commitments that day and couldn’t make it to the reunion.
I also want to offer some suggestions as we plan a future cyber-reunion. Things that I think would help make it even a more successful one.
1. Make the reunion a 4-5 hour event. I think because the Saturday shindig was pretty much an all-day event, people were not obligated to show up at the same time. Which maybe OK with you but it is taxing to the folks on the internet. This meant having to be on the computer the whole day if we wanted to talk to everyone who was showing up. In fact, this happened later in the night when people started arriving one by one. I tried to stay up for every new arrival, but it was hard.
So, perhaps we should have a dinner for the first 2-3 hours, then a talent contest among the batch children so we could showcase the future Ruralites. Then we could have a story-telling contest among the kabatch. Even ka-batches on the internet could join. And we could give out a trophy for the best story. The trophy would then be passed on to the winner of the next cyber-reunion, so we only need to buy one trophy for the life of our batch. And, based on last Saturday’s event, Moises, Albert and Jawel would be contenders here.
Tapos, we could have a slideshow/Powerpoint ppt of all the pictures we could get together, then picture taking for posterity sake, then perhaps dancing to 80’s music (of course, you should only dance with your wife or husband…right? Right?) or maybe skip the dancing since some of us are still swingin/single. Or they could bring a date or even dance amongst themselves. Edz, Ryan and Arbo could do their Technotronic crap that they used to do back in high school. Then either go home or stay and drink until we puke (that’s another word for vomit, pronounced
"pyoook").
Basically, it will be a night event, and perhaps Albert’s (or his Lola’s) resort would be the venue for the event. If this would cost money, I guess we would need to think about that. But the whole point is to keep the event very short and event-full. So, people will come at the same time and we could achieve a quorum. And this would be easier on us who will have to join the event online.
2. Instead of Jawel’s idea of raffling off a BMW, we should just give away free ice cream. That seemed to have worked in 1989. Even the girls showed up for that.
Circa 1989 -- Rural 83ers' Angel, Buena, Fe, Eileen, and Dayday: "We came for the ice cream, nothing else, so don't even talk to us." 
3. Contrary to what Jawel said, I think planning ahead would be more helpful. This would allow people to pencil in the event into their calendars and would have a better chance of showing up. I think calling other ka-batches to see whether they will come or not should not be a major problem.
4. Get the women more involved in the event so they will feel more obligated to show up. The way I see it, reunions are like going to the gym, you hate to go, but once you go, you’re actually glad you did.
OK, that’s it. Hope we could do this again.
(End of message)Actually, this e-mail was included in our yearbook for the China Reunion in 2003 (see page 63) and even had some babes embedded there (yehey!).
OK, so folks, perhaps we could start planning for that get-together in cyberspace? Who's with me?
