Last year's Christmas break was a 3-day weekend. It was the same for New year, so naturally, everyone wants to squeeze as much time as they can from you (before other family obligations tie you down).

I'm luckier when my friends come a-calling. it's traditional for us, ex-seminarians, to do our reunions after Christmas (and right before New Year comes in). The rest of the guys were planning something for last Dec 30, friday, and the constant emails back and forth, kept me informed about the preparations.

with all the attention over our reunion for that friday, i got to thinking back to how our reunion started when i suddenly came across this online poker gaming site. it defines a "barkada" as follows:

"barkada: |bår-kä-DÃH| n. Identified as a false cognate because of its Spanish origins (a false cognate being a word existing in two languages, but giving meaning to different things). The original word in Spanish, spelled "barcada", originally meant "boatload". In its Filipino usage, the word "barkada" means a friend, or buddy. It is used as a mass noun to pertain to one person's group of close friends, collectively, rather than pertaining to just one friend. Oftentimes, the prefix 'ka-' is added when using the word in reference, or as an indirect object. (Curiously, as a mass noun, the word "barkada" returns to its connotive Spanish roots of 'boatload')."

now that is interesting, isn't it?

  the word barkada is filipino for a group of friends. be it the
"since highschool" kind, or office buddies who meet once or twice a
month for a game of poker or billiards.



  my barkada are old friends from the seminary --- how i entered
the seminary and got booted out comes later. but i will say this: not
all who go through the experience become saints. to date, three have
embraced communism, five of us are now Protestants, another and yet
another has become something of an all-out sex machine. while we still
meet for coffee, we've gone our separate ways now and have discovered
different interests.



  I freelance for a local mag and write copy for a web design
company. that's where i came across this interesting site about
barkadas. i've also turned to online gaming and am proud that i'm an
avid Diablo II Expansion fan. i'd often go for hours on the battle.net.
i've also tried ragnarok. i found the characters cute, but ultimately
found the game tested my patience too often. i've also recently taken
up online poker. Now i know that there are two kinds of online games:
diablo ii is a game of skill, while online poker is a game of chance.



  if you play traditional poker, you'll know. online poker gaming
is faster, the tension and feel for the game is different because the
players have usernames and avatars. the rush is different; the pace is
faster, the pay-off is just as big.