October 27, 2011

Random Thoughts…10272011

It was a Fellowship Night, the noon time meeting was moved to the evening to allow for more bonding between members, we used a bigger room (Waling-waling), food was served buffet style, there was a sound system and projection system with disco lights with danceable music from the 70’s and 80’s playing, members were aplenty, PP Dondo Lim was there, and this made me feel good, we missed his tag team partner though PP Tito Mabanta, PP Jimmy was also present, probably having attended the meeting of his ‘other club’ earlier that day, this also made me feel good, PP Noel Mesina showed up with a bottle of Johnny Walker Black Label, and this made me feel even better!

The food was sumptuous, Tita Annie obviously having a hand in the preparations as always, there were new faces, prospective members all, one - Tita Annie’s son-in-law, the other a former member of the club now connected with a Chevy dealership, the other also a former Rotarian (from Davao) a friend of PP Pol Leoncio.

When I walked in to the room to greet everyone already there present, PDG Pepe’s response to me was, “Each one bring one,” from then on I knew I had to avoid him because I didn’t want to feel guilty the whole night, only because the person whom I wanted to introduce to the club could not make it to our fellowship night – but hey, it’s not ‘the end of the world,’ I mean, we could still bring in a new member until February 2012, so I didn’t let that spoil my evening, after all it was fellowship night, we were supposed to have a light business meeting and have more time to enjoy each other’s company.

I paid a little tribute to the late PP Ciso Padilla by leading the singing of the song, “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow.” PP Jimmy and PP Tony Abola followed by saying a few words on how they remember Ciso. We will always remember PP Ciso as the president who posted a 100% Membership Attendance in all Club Meetings – a feat that has not been eclipsed to this day.

The meeting was light and pleasant at this point, sponsoring Rotarians were asked to introduce their prospective members, and the candidates were also asked to say a few words. Then we watched a film clip of R.I Pres. Kalyan Bannerjee’s wonderful speech at the R.I Convention, and the meeting took a turn towards ‘Heavy’ when Pres. Nan was reminded to accomplish his service projects for this year. I felt sorry for Pres. Nan whose face showed strain from the ‘sermon,’ I mean there is a place and a proper time for such but tonight was not a good time, its Fellowship Night for crying out loud! Thanks to FDG Benny Pe who provided a fresh bottle of Johnny Black, we felt invincible against the tirades of the party pooper.

Cheers and enjoy RotaryJ

PP Jovie