grimace

Grimace - Grimace is a large, purple character who was first introduced in November 1971 as the "Evil Grimace". In his first two appearances, he was depicted with two pairs of arms with which to steal milkshakes and sodas. "Evil" was soon dropped from his moniker, and he was reintroduced in 1972 as one of the good guys. In 1974, he was redesigned, going from two pairs of arms to the single pair he has today. His role continued to grow, and by the mid 1970s, he was a major character in McDonaldland. Commercials and merchandise generally portray Grimace as a well-meaning simpleton whose clumsy antics provide a comic foil to Ronald McDonald. The character was retained after the streamlining of the characters in the 1980s, and soon details of Grimace's background and family life began to emerge. His Uncle O'Grimacey first appeared in 1986 [see below] and would visit only one month per year, around St. Patrick's Day, bringing Shamrock Shakes. Additional family were revealed in a McDonaldland VHS tape "The Legend of Grimace Island": He has an unnamed mom, an unnamed dad, a grandma named "Winky", a great, great grandma named Jenny Grimace, and a might be brothers with "King Gonga", who is the king of all Grimaces. In "Grimace's Oddysey", Grimace is portrayed as a ham radio enthusiast who uses a homemade transmitter made from a colander. Grimace's physical appearance is difficult to describe, even for the other denizens of McDonaldland. Ronald says Grimace has his mother's eyes, while Birdie says he has his father's prominent chin, and Hamburglar jokingly says he has his Grandma Winky's fat ankles. Despite his massive girth, Grimace took ballet classes. Grimace was played by Terri Casille and voiced by Frank Welker in the commercials and by Kevin Michael Richardson in "The Wacky Adventures of Ronald McDonald."

last wednesday, i turned a new leaf in my life, big 3-0 = 3 decades of existence! and had a grimace party! out of maternal encouragement from tita jo, i hurriedly called mcdo greenbelt to ask for details. not until 2 pm of august 3 have i made the reservation for the kainan. but of course, i already made some quick texts to some friends and tita made sure that all of our family will come.

4th of august, it was raining as usual. i can't remember the last time i celebrated my birthday when the customary rains didn't come. not that i'm complaining but i was a bit worried that not a lot of people will be able to come, especially as this was dinner time, made even more complicated with rush hour traffic and the usual hazard of commuting manila-style. and if not a lot of people would come, i'd still have to pay for 30 pax. good thing that my whole family (minus kuya bob's brood) came, together with my college friends pops and aby (and LA), ex-idc'ers such as daddy r, lei, det, cathy, zel, plus the current set of 1206 gang. ate joy did the intro, said a short prayer before doing the longest "happy birthday" and bring me. we had dinner, mcchicken spaghetti meal, some fries and sundae. jessa did two more games - dunk the plastic cup and arrange yourselves. grimace then entered the grimace room for some quick pics. the mascot just stood there, did nothing at all. but i guess it was his purple presence that immediately set the kiddie and happy (meal) mood.

the highlight i think was the personal (as in one by one) messages from all of my party guests, ala debutante! and only ate joy can do that. i thought that after 2 more games, the party would already be done and we might have coffee instead. but we had it. papa started with his birthday wish that i have my own family soon; tita said something in english, apparently thanking me, hehehe!; ate ne complained about traveling all the way to makati and eating only burger; ate she was emo... but more of looking back message; ate joy talked about my being kalbo; and liezl... oh, what did she say again?! hehehe. after bunso liz, all of my friends had short messages. to sum it up, according to them... i'm direct, masungit and no more. hehehe! aby gave me a book, dad gave me ref magnets, ate joy bought me lacoste perfume, det treated us to coffee after dinner and mcdonald's provided a pair of gloves with baseball ball. thanks!

i had a good time. i did see some of my friends giddying to play some silly kiddie games, laughing and generally riding along the grimace party mood. my family made the effort of going to makati, even papa who's not a big fan of public commute. best, it was i think a celebration of life, full of blessings and continued blessings... salamat sa Maykapal. i'm glad that i took to tita's suggestion.

another 3 decades... or even more! (",)