Note: I wrote this entry some five years ago. Life revolves around the Outsiders, which is my only PLU group back then. Many things have changed after Dodong moved to another place, but that sunset on the Orion Deck had endured in my memory.
It was indeed a moment destined to be remembered for infinity.
I have written too many good entries this May. As a fitting end to a month full of meanings and realizations, I choose this entry to be my closing while celebrating life as it enters a new moon tomorrow.
Remembering all the good things we shared together Dodong, this entry is for you.
It was indeed a moment destined to be remembered for infinity.
I have written too many good entries this May. As a fitting end to a month full of meanings and realizations, I choose this entry to be my closing while celebrating life as it enters a new moon tomorrow.
Remembering all the good things we shared together Dodong, this entry is for you.
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Looking below at such breathtaking height of the 37th floor viewing deck, the world bows under my feet. Strange, but I feel that this is a surreal revelation of my recurring daydreams; a fleeting moment that I have to toil for many years if I wish to see again.
Facing a dusty sun, the icy winds from the Sierra Madre mountains blow pass behind my ears, carrying with it lonely voices and stirring some ancient memories inside my head. On my right is the silhouette of Bataan - its towering mountain and the shimmering Manila Bay revealing themselves behind a thin veil of grey clouds. The pumpkin-orange sky changes its color to mauve blue as the city lights begin to flicker around me. From east to west and north to south, everything freezes for a second. The world suddenly becomes a palette of earth colors, as the hands of time move its finger down to another direction.
This will be the last time I set foot on Paragon Plaza, the home of the Outsiders and the sanctuary of Dodong's soul. I admit that I, too had many memories of the place. It was at his pad where I decided to formalize a relationship with a public display of affection - as the drunken Papu dared us to do. It was also at Dodong's pad where we forged a brotherhood that stands strong today.
The pad also witnessed countless self-destruction nights and collective stories of repression being passed around the four cornered walls of Dodong's home. It was here where we discovered ourselves and learned how to be free - despite of what others would think of us. It was here where our friendship had been challenged many times, only to triumph in the face of adversaries.
While helping PJ and Kirsh put Dodong's things inside the carton boxes, I felt this strange apprehension that I will always fear changes. It is a fact that we cannot continue our contingents on our host's new home. We need to find a new spot to extend our happy nights, or return to our old nook along Timog Avenue for sentimental values.
As Dodong's ubiquitous novels and cds were carefully stacked inside the boxes and as the jigsaw portraits were being put down from the walls, flakes of cream white paint falls off. It is like one by one, our memory of the place we have cherished for a timeless moment was being erased right in front of my eyes.
It is all goodbyes now - the pad, the thrills of contingents, the sentimental conversations at the balcony... and the breathtaking view at the Orion deck. At least, I will end the paragon chapter on a happy note and in good tidings with my barkada. No matter where the winds of changes bring us, I know that a part of my heart belongs to Odders.
This afternoon was the first time I saw the sun set from Paragon Plaza. The slow moving vehicles along Edsa slithers like a vicious snake across the city. New bamboo-like skyscrapers in Makati and Ortigas, with lattices and cranes suspended on top of these structures compete to reach the sky. I wonder if in their arrogance, they would end up like the Tower of Babel crashing back to the earth someday. The endless blue waters of Manila Bay remain calm and sober, while the Laguna De Bay, which I used to point every contingent night to someone i am having a conversation with, is covered by thick rain clouds.
Forbes Park hides under a canopy of old trees, like the mythical Lothlorien surrounded by a concrete jungle known as Makati. Fort Bonifacio, has been stripped of its emerald jewels. The only visible scars are the barren soil and the vast open spaces with warehouse-like complexes bannering signs of progress. Espana Tower along with the PLDT Transmitter is shrouded by smog rising above the residential districts of Sampaloc and Sta Mesa. Finally, the last rays of sunlight penetrate the spaces between the proud and lonely condominiums of Ermita casting a long dark shadow stretching some miles away from these stately monoliths.
If only I had a camera... I would like to preserve this passing moment for eternity...
Three minutes, five seconds and a little chat with Dodong later, everything was eaten by the darkness.
It's how fleeting life is;
It's how everything changes in a blink of an eye.
It is all goodbyes now - the pad, the thrills of contingents, the sentimental conversations at the balcony... and the breathtaking view at the Orion deck. At least, I will end the paragon chapter on a happy note and in good tidings with my barkada. No matter where the winds of changes bring us, I know that a part of my heart belongs to Odders.
This afternoon was the first time I saw the sun set from Paragon Plaza. The slow moving vehicles along Edsa slithers like a vicious snake across the city. New bamboo-like skyscrapers in Makati and Ortigas, with lattices and cranes suspended on top of these structures compete to reach the sky. I wonder if in their arrogance, they would end up like the Tower of Babel crashing back to the earth someday. The endless blue waters of Manila Bay remain calm and sober, while the Laguna De Bay, which I used to point every contingent night to someone i am having a conversation with, is covered by thick rain clouds.
Forbes Park hides under a canopy of old trees, like the mythical Lothlorien surrounded by a concrete jungle known as Makati. Fort Bonifacio, has been stripped of its emerald jewels. The only visible scars are the barren soil and the vast open spaces with warehouse-like complexes bannering signs of progress. Espana Tower along with the PLDT Transmitter is shrouded by smog rising above the residential districts of Sampaloc and Sta Mesa. Finally, the last rays of sunlight penetrate the spaces between the proud and lonely condominiums of Ermita casting a long dark shadow stretching some miles away from these stately monoliths.
If only I had a camera... I would like to preserve this passing moment for eternity...
Three minutes, five seconds and a little chat with Dodong later, everything was eaten by the darkness.
It's how fleeting life is;
It's how everything changes in a blink of an eye.
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