If you are in this list, a I have a favorite memory of you in 2009.

I had met a lot of brilliant friends this year. All of them cut from different molds, but all equally brilliant and endeared to me. Perhaps, I am not going to be the first one to say this but 2009 had been a very challenging year for most everyone I know. Despite this, 2009 is not one with some great instances.

Here is a small collection of my favorite memories of people in 2009. Each memory is with a friend/a group of friends. If you are in this list, I like you enough to remember. If you are not in this list, it might perhaps be because we have not gotten the chance to forge memories more. This is not a date list. This is a list of my favorite memories of people (girls and boys).

Not in particular order:

1) It was a few days after your birthday. Your hair was remarkably beautiful that night. We were walking all around Cubao, right after dinner. It drizzled lightly that night, and there was no electricity. We shared a few bottles of beer over candlelight.

2) We were over a friend’s birthday party. We were sitting on the cold, tiled floor right behind the door. It was the night I had found out your full name. We were talking about people, relationships and our names over a few bottles of beer and glasses of vodka and orange juice a friend of ours kept serving.

3) Somewhere in a bar in Kamuning, we were sitting with a spread of scrabble game in front of us. I shamelessly lost to you, with a wide margin. I have yet to return to you your scrabble board.

4) Outside a mall, right after dinner, we were conducting a song and dance number over an imaginary song. I was twirling under a streetlight. A few minutes later, on a surprisingly empty northbound bus, I was singing and dancing She & Him’s “Sweet Darling” on the aisles for you.

5) It was the first time I had met you, a Tuesday. The first three things I notice about you are your Marlboro Reds, your flip phone, and the way you gush when you smile. You mentioned that you judge people by the music they are listening to, I remember you saying Broken Social Scene.

6) It was the day after the biggest storm of the year had hit Manila. We were wading deep in sewer water. We discuss the possible contents of the water we were wading in. We were giggling at the thought that this might make for an interesting date, had we not been wading in shit, piss and garbage filled water.

7) We were sitting on a couch in my favorite place in Cubao. You were across me with a common friend. You were wearing black and a string of pearls. Times like those reaffirm the fact that even if we rarely see each other, I love you unconditionally.

8 ) I rarely see you. When we see each other, it was always over at Cubao Expo. You showed me around the shop your brother and his friends own. You mentioned that you were meaning to go to Nomnomnom to join the Samosa eating contest so that you have a chance to win a tattoo. You were holding a beer.

9) I had known you a long time over the internet. It was the first time I had met you. Over a few bottles of beer, we discussed zodiac signs, the boys we like, and the school we shared. I remember you were wearing military green.

10) Sitting in a Starbucks, the one near 6UG, we discussed poetry. You told me that your students would be staging poetry reading in a stairwell one of these days. I was more than excited for you. You are one of the few people I know who reads and quotes Rumi.

11) Walking along Balete Drive. We were discussing architecture. A few minutes later, over at a Dunkin Donuts store you told me how Pineapple Juice is a recommendation for times when one is too drunk.

12) Over at Coffee Bean Ortigas, I hand you a small container of Truffles. You smelled delightful.

13) Streetlights. Walking. Tomato Kick. Best. Date. Ever.

Anyone who could guess who they are on this list plus three other, or three people on this list win a cupcake.