Friday, November 26, 2004
STARSTRUCK
Walked through the office building's glass door just as the gray of day faded into the deep blue of twilight. Turned right and headed for the underpass that would take me to the other side of Ayala Avenue.
As I passed by one of the older buildings in the area, someone decided to flip a switch.
And a row of Christmas lanterns flickered to life above me.
They were star-shaped. Old-school parols. The type that students had to make (but more often than not, simply purchased from the palengke) as a project about this time of the year.
That moment, I forgot how the season I used to look forward to as early as September had morphed into a mess of hollow rituals, forced merriment and artificially heightened emotions I'd dread as early as the previous December.
For a moment, I simply stood underneath yellow, green, blue and red stars while the rest of Makati hurried by.
As I passed by one of the older buildings in the area, someone decided to flip a switch.
And a row of Christmas lanterns flickered to life above me.
They were star-shaped. Old-school parols. The type that students had to make (but more often than not, simply purchased from the palengke) as a project about this time of the year.
That moment, I forgot how the season I used to look forward to as early as September had morphed into a mess of hollow rituals, forced merriment and artificially heightened emotions I'd dread as early as the previous December.
For a moment, I simply stood underneath yellow, green, blue and red stars while the rest of Makati hurried by.
