after changes we are more or less the same

There was something about today that called for some Simon & Garfunkel. I heeded the call and readied my playlist of their songs, as well as those as performed by other artists.

Here's one of the latter.


S&G's Sound of Silence, as performed by Yao Si Ting

Musings as i eat my mixed meat gyro

The world is such a small place for us: we are connected to each other more closely than we could ever imagine.

But it is still a big, big world for travelers. And we long to make that connection with other people, like us or with those we think wew do not share any similarities with,sooner than later.

We long to experience those sights and sounds wwe just normally see on television or ad about in travelbooks, novels, or even in magazines.

And we long to befriend those from our cultures.

Ah. So much to see! So much to do! Let's start now, why don't we?

Walking Around Makati City at 6 AM

When you're hounded by a thousand questions and distracted by a hundred visions, take a deep breath and go another way.

You might have worked too hard or ate too much junk food. You might have had more than your fair share of idle time, so much so that the novel in your head has grown more side stories than Steven Spielberg could ever direct in his lifetime. You might have slept more than you needed to.

Sleep is restful but your body can only take so much. You have to get up and go. (So, just get up and go.) Trod down that nearby but unknown path. Who knows, you might just step on a dime. Or a peso.

There is more to your life than just your comfortable routines. Change it up a bit. From the parking slot in the basement of your office building, you normally go up to your floor, unlock your office door, turn on all the lights, the air conditioning, and the water dispenser. You make your own coffee and spend the rest of the day in front of your iMac with all the documents you have to read and those you still have to write, neatly stacked on the left side of your desk. Everyday and always.

But today, get up and go. (Yes, just get up and go.)

Instead of immediately making your coffee, go down the elevator and walk around the central business district. Take the exit at the back of your building and walk towards the convenience store at the next corner. And pass it. Go to the bank a stone's throw from the store, stop, and look around you.

Breathe. It might not be as clean as the mountain air you love but it'll do. At 6AM, a breath of Makati Air will be just as fresh and sweet.

Put your hands in your dress pockets and amble about as if you're just a shadow along the sidewalk. Take notice of the people you see milling about: the call center agents who probably are on their coffeebreak, the security guards, the early birds like you who either have too much work to do in their respective offices or just do not want to stay home. They had chosen to have their lives revolve around their office spaces with the dream of realizing their dreams one day, or maybe with the hope of drowning out their glaring problems with family.

But not you. You're here because you had chosen to take a different path today. You had chosen to go the other way. You are here to walk.

Walking brings relief to a tired soul. It makes you smile in spite of all the questions in your head. You put a happy ending to your novel and maybe in time, you'd start a new one. But not now.

Now you're in cloud 9. Just at the intersection of Leviste and Sedeño, and going where the sidewalk leads you.

How very cynical.

‎"He was my North, my South, my East and West,
My working week and my Sunday rest,
My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;
I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong."
-W.H. Auden, Funeral Blues


But the first three lines are beautiful.

How To Be Alone

Flashback

I try to forget the cruelty, the vile deeds, the hypocrisy in your ways -- but reality's too sneaky: it comes up whenever we least expect it to.

At that one moment, I let my guard down and there, there it was. It crept into my head and ruined every chance I had of ending the night in peace.

Now, I am reminded of the way you hid things from us, your supposed family, your lies, your dastardly actions. You ruined things for me. You destroyed every respect I had for you: I could never look you in the eye again and say that you DO NOT creep me out, disgust me, or disappoint me. I could never take your words as truth ever again.

Everything you would say is presumed to be lies unless proven - by proof beyond reasonable doubt - otherwise.

And I am reminded of the parasites that cling to your every limb. Those who are just waiting for the dole out. And I plummet to an all-time low.

Yes, I may despise you for everything that you did and did not do to and for me. But, I tell you: I am not stupid enough to let go and waive my rights. It's not actually what you think.

I am proud to say that it is not the value of the rights I seek to fight for. It is deliverance for own self.

And I will bring you and the parasites around you your very own judgment.

So even if it irritates me, I will move in your midst to see to it that MY own ends meet. Revenge and the last laugh will be mine.