BZD (Birthdays, Zoe, and Dakota)

Last Saturday, I went to see my former officemates from St. Bernadette. The get-together coincided with the 3rd birthday of Ate Amy's only daughter, Ally. Ally's complete name is Gabrielle Allende, named after her mom's (and mine, too) favorite author Isabel Allende and her nickname is from Ally Macbeal (played by Calista Flockhart) which we both loved also. Another thing is that Ally was born on the same day as my mom, but this year they decided to celebrate it a day early. Good thing I didn't buy her a dress for my gift since she has grown so big from the last time I saw her (I think that was two years ago). She was so skinny back then and obviously so fragile. It's nice to see her running around and I even joined her inside the hotel room's closet which she said was her elevator and we're off to Shoe Mart. At such a young age, she could think of silly things which can make you laugh 'til you drop. By the way, her birthday was held at Citadel Inn at Makati Avenue. Ate Amy said she wanted it that way coz she didn't want to bother herself anymore with regard to the cleaning up before and after the party.

Back to the get-together! It has been three years since we parted ways. We were all working as Editors at St. Bernadette before. I have moved on to two companies, my latest being a publishing house also. Ate Lei is now a grade school teacher teaching English subjects. She attended the party with her husband, Rob and her two kids Edelweiss and Raven. Meanwhile, Ate Amy has resigned from St. Bernadette last month (thank God!) and is now working at a regional office of the United Nations here in the Philippines. We have met lots of people along the way but our friendship remains.

Yesterday, we celebrated my mom's 62nd birthday. It was just a simple gathering with our close relatives as guests.

During this 2-day vacation, I also got to watch The Final Cut (finally!). It gives me the chills to think that such a powerful microchip could be invented in the future! The film centers on Alan Hackman (played by Robin Williams), the best Zoe cutter in town. Zoe is a chip placed inside a person's head from birth and it records your memory (both good and bad) until you die. After that, the Zoe chip is edited (bad memories deleted, of course) and a "Rememory" is played at the funeral of the chip's owner. While editing the chip of a very powerful man (and a very bad man since he molested his own daughter among many other things), he saw a person which reminded him of his past. As a kid, Alan felt responsible for the death of his playmate when it fell from a construction site. While rummaging through files, he discovered that he himself has a Zoe chip inside him (one of the no-nos as a Zoe cutter) and his parents was not able to tell him for they died before he reached 21, the right age to tell the Zoe owner of his condition. Meanwhile, the kid that fell actually didn't die during that accident and what Alan stepped on was red paint and not the kid's blood. In the end, Alan was relieved of the memory that has haunted him ever since but he was killed by a guy who was after a chip he has. It turned out that the chip was destroyed so the only chip they have is that of Alan's, which when compared to all chips, is the most powerful of them all since it has seen chips of countless people... unedited!!! This film again showed Williams' versatility as an actor. It was a nice follow-up to One Hour Photo.

Two films I got to see - Hide and Seek (with Robert de Niro and Dakota Fanning) and Miss Congeniality 2. I love Dakota, especially in I am Sam (just bought a copy of the said film last Saturday as addition to my collection). She has such an expressive face, that it can stand alone even without dialogue. I still can forget the episode where she guested in CSI. The Inquirer had a nice review of Hide and Seek yesterday so I kinda had an idea about the film already.

So long...