The YCG of Egay

I had three boy friends in UP, and they were in my life at the same time. Egay. Paul. Nu. Now before you brand me as s_utty, don’t judge me yet. They were not the romantic kind of bf’s, but honest-to-goodness boy friends. A long time ago, we all belonged to  UPCC and we were by chance called the Yellow Car Group.

YCG because of Egay’s Cory-yellow Toyota Corolla. At that time, he was the only one of my friends burgis enough (teka, is burgis still a known word today?) to own a car. At first, Babsy and I were the original hitchhikers of his car. At that time, the wildest thing we did was to cruise Diliman to EDSA to Coastal Road to Las Pinas at midnight and laughed and sang and shouted our hearts away. No alcohol. No bawal na gamot. Just pure friendship high. (Okay, maybe an occasional boy hunting for Babsy!)

Later on, when Egay and I auditioned for the UPCC, the group expanded to Paul, Nu, Meh Ann, Lionel, Luz, Jerome, Cynthia, and Adrian and I.  We needed to go to venues to hold our concerts and singing engagements, and Egay’s yellow car was used and abused. There were times when we felt like sardines inside his car, but Egay never complained. Hell, he didn’t even ask for any gas money from us. (O nabigyan ka ba ng extra honorarium ni Sir Paguio?)

His car wasn’t the only one he was generous with. He even opened his room to Paul and me (sometimes to Nu and Aids). Yes, you heard me, I often slept together with the boys in Egay’s room. There were times when we had to come back from out-of-town gigs in the middle of the night, and it would be too dangerous for me to coast to Las Pinas. There were also times when I had to sleep over for a group project, or a test, or wala lang. Nothing scandalous worthy of internet voyeurs happened then, I assure you. We were close, yet we respected one other. 

Soave, Italy
Bing: I wish Tita Barbie would adopt me.
Egay: Masaya ka!

I wasn't the only one who slept in his house. He, too, (and yes, Paul and Nu) had his overnight stays in our house. There was one time that he brought me home to Las Pinas really late (we came from a concert), so we were really tired and sleepy. He parked his car in front of our house, but also across from the gate of our neighbor. Early morning, the son of our neighbor was honking his car really loud, because he said he couldn't get out of their garage. But that was not true. He could if he wanted to. I found out later that he was just livid because he was jealous that some guy spent overnight in our house. Little did he know that my YCG boys slept on the couch, of course.


Let me just reiterate that I couldn't have survived my last years in UP without Egay. We were always group mates in IE case studies and projects. We did all our computer programming requirements in their house--he did everything overnight, while I slept on his bed. I made sure that I was beside him during exams (for moral support, ano ba!). When we went on the UPCC tour together, I only had $20 in my pocket. But I wasn't a bit worried. I knew Egay would take care of me. And somehow he did. He just took me under his wings. Such was our bonding, my Eglet and I.

Saan nga bang isteyt ito? 

Now that he is a math teacher somewhere in the US, I’m still waiting for that day when we meet again. Hopefully, I could one day joyride that yellow car with Egay once more.

Happy birthday, Egay!!!! Alam mong lab kita poreber and eber!!!

P.S. I know how Egay misses Pinas, especially now that his mom got sick just last week. He sent me this recording to express his homesickness. Nakaka-touch talaga. 

Btw, Egay, ang galing galing mo na talagang kumanta. A long way compared to your first UPCC audition. Nasa timing ka na!!! ;-)