The Lesson Plan

I haven’t been to Tomas Morato often. Despite being a rather prominent avenue in Quezon City, it has remained a visual black hole for me. However, yesterday changed that.

As a visual driver, I only have to run through a place once during day time in order to easily navigate it regardless of the time and weather the next time. Little did I know that the next time would be later.

My day started with a meeting with some bloggers over at Bang Cafe. In attendance were Mong, Ederic, Shari and Bikoy. It was interesting to meet the people behind the screen, as it was fascinating to match their face with their typeface. I’ve had an extremely pleasurable time collaborating with them on something that will go beyond the blogosphere and into the PSHS. What we’re working on is a some sort of follow up to Pisay Meets World, since this time it is the world (or the Philippine blogworld, that is) that is coming to Pisay. This is really exciting for us, and we can’t wait to unveil more details once we have them!

Afterwards, I left Tomas Morato and spent the next 5 hours (12nn to 5pm) working in the front lobby of the PSHS Campus. This was a detour planned at the last minute since I just found out right before leaving for my meeting at Bang Cafe that I had another affair at 6PM, this time in Trinoma.

The campus was desolate. It was rather cool and eerily quiet, considering that I was virtually the only one there most of the time. My only break was when Daryll and Paolo joined me around 4pm. Thus stuck in my own sub-dimension of time and space, I got a lot of work done. I finished checking the exams and read a third of a section’s journals. I noticed that there was something transcendent about reading their stories about high school life in an empty campus; their words brought the empty halls vibrantly to life.

By 5PM I worked my way to Trinoma to celebrate the birthday of one of our college friends over dinner. I noticed that we’ve been getting together a lot lately, and it was interesting to see whose lives were put on pause after college. It’s comforting to know that I can depend on some people to stay the same, especially when I feel that I’ve been living my life on fast forward since then.

[As an aside: It was my first time in Trinoma (stands for "Triangle North of Manila") and I didn't find it impressive. To be honest, I found it unwieldy. I don't like it, but then again I don't like Mall of Asia either. Sure, they're good economic indicators, but I just find these supermalls to be excessive and impractical. Let me explain though: I'm the kind of guy who goes into malls to get what he needs and to do what he has to do. I'm not the kind to go around, window shop and people watch. I go into a mall with a book, CD, restaurant or movie in mind, get to it, then get out. The less halls, parking lots and people in my way, the better. Thus I am beginning to enjoy places like the Bonifacio High Street even more, and I am infinitely in love with the Fully Booked store in The Fort.]

After dinner, we guys had coffee and tea in the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and caught up on a lot of new things. I am officially the most career-oriented person in the group — as I didn’t have a single cent to contribute in the love life category, not that I’m complaining — though I think they prefer to call me the workaholic. One thing led to another, and soon we were accompanying a friend to this bar in the Tomas Morato area to meet a special friend. Yeah, that kind of special.

I wasn’t supposed to go with them though. I’ve had one of my instinctive flashes telling me not to go. I really can’t explain it but I’ve learned to trust it without fail. I surmise that this is how my yin — feminine energy — manifests itself (we all have both masculine and feminine energies), and every time I don’t listen to it, something goes wrong.

The worst case I had was when I was driving a cousin from Pisay to Vito Cruz in Manila. Throughout the trip I had this nagging feeling to drive through a McDonald’s. Though I was rather hungry, I didn’t give in to it thinking that there would be food at our Lola’s house. We passed several McDonald’s and I felt the impulse every time; it wasn’t just wishful thinking but a sense that I had to. We ended up not driving through and about two blocks away from our lola’s house, our car got hit bad by a taxi coming out of a blind corner and into us. Thus I’ve learned to listen to my flashes of instinct and I haven’t had a foul accident since.

[As an aside: I use that instinct in almost every aspect of my life, and it also works for me when I teach in class. A lot of what I do is really spontaneous, and I like it that way. I don't feel too comfortable when things are structured or fixed.]

Nevertheless, I gave in to my friends last night since they had this way about them. We rarely see each other anyway and it would be the first time we meet the other’s special friend. So what went wrong? Well, we did get to Tomas Morato and found the bar after getting lost for a bit. I hoped that was it, and we got to enjoy some light beers together and even crashed a party. Putting aside that I couldn’t stand the cigarette smoke flooding the room and the blaring techno music, things went a little sour when I ended the night on the receiving end of a lecture from a friend. He tried to stop me from leaving, telling me that I should use this time to get over my “fears”, do “something stupid now” and build my “confidence”. I flatly replied that he doesn’t know me. I no longer added, “After all these years.”

I promptly left the place wondering where he was when we celebrated his birthday in a bar about four years ago. He must have forgotten that I’ve done my fair share of stupid and that I almost lost a friend because of it. I’m not making the past an excuse, of course, but I rather have that than alcohol as my alibi. As he said himself, “Hindi na tayo bata.”

I ended yesterday around 1AM today. Tomas Morato still teemed with lights, liquor and life — or what passes for life — and I noted how I began and ended my day there. In a span of twelve hours, I’ve met new people and old friends, and I wonder how many times that happens for other people who find the end of their road in Tomas Morato. For me though, it was just the beginning of the long road home and to whatever else it is I’m looking for.