This afternoon was the first birthday of Elki, Yam’s baby boy. Yam and his production designers built safari jungle sets all over the ballroom, with all kinds of animals and the works. Amaaazing. And oh wow they had overflowin' milkshakes, snowcones (snowcones!!), and ice cream. And they had those bubble girls that Tals once told us about. They called out kids in the audience and put them inside giant bubbles. Trippy.
What made the otherwise perfect party awkward was the program host who was annoyingly (yet amusingly) gay. He was in full tour guide attire a la Jeff “I go tally THE votes” Probst, with a giant button on his left vest pocket with his name on it. With his Britney lapel mic, he is unnecessarily over-perky to the kids, and evil to his production staff as he shouts out after every dramatic spiel, “Cut the music! Cut!” or “Up mic! Down music! Down!” or “I don’t want that song. Change!”
When it was time for Elki to blow the candles on his giant cake, Mr. Host repeatedly and cheerily shouted, “Let’s blow together! Let’s blow together! Let’s blow together!” to the amusement of the dads. He also has a whistle that he uses to hum along with a song (as a result, ruining it), or to shut up the screaming kids and the chatting adults. Nuts I tell you.
The highlight of my day was of course seeing little Ella finally in person. When they call for a volunteer, she’s the first to raise her hand. She’s also the first to run onstage to get cupcakes, first in line in the dancing part, and when everyone was called for a big souvenir photo, she ran to the center and posed, positioning herself like the star that she is.
And they gave iPod Nanos, and PS2s, and watches, and phones, and cameras, which of course brought the house down, proving once again the inevitable fact that the only sure fire way to liven up a group of people is by having a raffle.
Time to get back to what I was doing a while ago. Oh wait before that, here’s what I wrote in the card on my gift.
Ey Elki. Happy 1st bday, man. I promise that when you’re six, I’ll teach you how to play rugby. And when you’re eight, I’ll read with you your first comic book. And when you turn 12, I’ll take you to your first rock concert. And when you turn 18, well, ahem ahem... your mom and dad are reading this so I’ll tell you nalang someday. Go and be an awesome kid! Kuya/Tito James.
Okay, now I can go back to what I was doing a while ago, which was absolutely nothing.
