Take A Bow

Wendy a.k.a. Smash used to blog and she was pretty good at it. 

She's both funny and quick-witted. Traits very few humans possess. 

I wish she returns to blogging. I know many feel the same way.

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Raft3r and I became friends when I sat next to him in a class in our second year law school. I was bored out of my wits prior to that class. When he and I became seatmates, my boredom instantly disappeared. I just loved his wit and sarcasm. I also marveled at how he could be genuinely pleasant during early Saturday mornings, when most of us were grumpy at the thought of spending the whole day studying and reciting. When Raft3r told me his story of how he cut classes in college in Manila to look for an action figure toy all the way at SM Southmall in Las Piñas, I knew I was smitten.

Raft3r and I briefly lost touch after I graduated from law school and when he focused on becoming richer. One night though, I found myself out of place among lovers at the breakwater of SM-MOA when I received a text from Raft3r informing me that he had just started a blog called Malibay, named after his notorious birthplace in Pasay. Raft3r is as unpretentious and as fun as Malibay, both the place and the blog.

My favorite of Raft3r’s blog entries, in fact, is Wouldn’t It Nice To Be Proud, in which Raft3r extolled the virtues of his much maligned barangay. It was a riot and held a punch of delightful trivias about Malibay – or Mali Bay as Raft3r fondly calls it. To my mind, that blog entry was an insight into Raft3r’s psyche: positive, non-conformist and real.

Raft3r’s blog is also my go-to repository of relationship advice from a sometimes twisted but very honest male perspective. My favorites are Single Me Out, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and I Can’t Make You Love Me.

I know no other person who loves movies and music as much as Raft3r does. Although I never understood his fixation with Marian Rivera, I appreciate that he’s no snob when it comes to watching Filipino movies. And despite his obsession with Janet Jackson – which I also do not get – I love that he never scrimps when he’s at the CD store or when buying concert tickets to see his favorite musicians. Raft3r’s passion for fun is both amazing and contagious. 

Raft3r, thank you for generously sharing yourself with us through your blog. Malibay is the place I go to when I needed cheering up, and you never failed me in that regard. It was a great four years. Although it pains me to let your blog go, I take comfort in the knowledge that the person behind the blog lives through. 

Wendy