I like to do my post in chronological order, but I posted about the elections without really realizing I still have two stories to post before I should talk about the elections, so allow me to rewind a bit. :)

06 of May is the actual Hanson Day. Thirteen years ago, Hanson - a group of brothers released their very first studio album, "Middle of Nowhere." Fans all over the world took on that day as a day to celebrate their music, and we the Filipino Hansonites also took on that day to celebrate not just Hanson's music, but our friendship as well. However, May 6th fell on a weekday, so we celebrated it on the 8th of May. I always look forward to this day because we have all grown up and we have our schedules to keep and this was the only time we see to come together.

I did bring my camera, but since my battery was running low, I just left the pictures to Minolah's care. Some pictures I grabbed from my friends:

The early birds. The call time was around 11AM, and when I got there, Betchay was already there. As usual, our meeting place was at the Powerbooks so we just browsed some books while waiting for the others to arrive. A few minutes after, Anne came followed by Mia, Dhanah and Minolah who were traveling from Laguna together.

Watching Hanson's Video. As soon as everybody has arrived, it was time to think where to eat. We checked out SM Megamall's atrium, but most food places were a bit new for us, so we ended up eating at Sbarro. I ate something new for this day because I have been eating their pizza and pasta whenever I eat there.

While eating, of course it's talks about Hanson, what else? Jam asked if we have seen the video that showed a glance of Taylor's wife and I haven't seen that particular video so Jam took out her laptop and showed it to us. :)

Us. Skye needed to leave already, so we asked the boyfriends (Minolah's and Skye's) to take our group shots. Never mind the dirty table, to us it was much important that we have a picture together. :)

{right to left - Anne, Yne, *me*, Betchay, Mia, Dhanah, Minolah, Skye, and Jam}

We stayed a little longer in Sbarro just because we don't have a place to go to. Some of us had ordered a little more food, so we had the "right" to stay longer. We were lucky that the place didn't have much people.

Coffee at Bo's. After a hearty lunch and a hearty talk/laugh, it was time for us to get going. Jam said she wanted to have some coffee, so we looked for a quiet coffee place, and we landed at Bo's Coffee on the 5th floor. There we continued our talkies and laughs, and it was just awesome recalling past experiences, especially the Hanson concert here in the Philippines in 2004.

Being friends with them for years has been a great moment for me. Who knew we would be as strong and as united after 13 years? Some of the people we knew have already outgrown their love for the band and their music (some sadly were so ashamed to tell they were fans before), but I was happy we have stuck with each other. We don't talk and meet that often, but having a group blog and being friends in Facebook has made us bond well together.

Actually, the time we were there, there were a lot of teenage people who were giddy giddy because a Korean group was performing, and we can't help but see ourselves in them a decade ago. Question is, will they be able to sustain thirteen years? :)

Jam left at 4PM, and we then accompanied Minolah and her bf in buying some plants, and since we don't have any more things to do and we don't know where to go, we just called it a day. Hanson is about to release a new studio album in June, and because we already anticipated that the album will not be released here in the Philippines, we are now on the process of acquiring our own albums through the band's site and a meet up in June is now in the works.

Happy 13th, my friends. Thirteen years from now, I hope we're still celebrating Hanson Day. :)

*** Jenn ***

ps - the very first image in this post was an artwork created by Minolah's boyfriend as his gift to us. Thanks, Geomar!