Gearing up for an outing isn't that easy, especially when you just learned that almost 21 people died from a capsized ferry due to some typhoon presently hitting the Southern Tagalog.
(Hmmm... So that explains the crash of rain on the rooftops
and the forceful gush of the wind that insistently pushed on me earlier as i
went home from work.
Thanks for RRCG and the TVs on their coaches, i
found out we've got some disaster rolling somewhere. )
I didn't really want to join my workmates because i just wanted to catch up with my sleep but since almost all of them are resigning from CL, i finally decided to go with them. While i'm off the road, i deliberately realized embarking for a company team-building trip sometimes turn out to be an exasperating warm-upper for the next beerkada sessions i know's surely coming up.
I had to take 4 jeeps to even get into the pick-up point (Padi's Point, Antipolo). And catching the last jeep was a royal pain in the butt, as i had to run to and fro to check if the jeep has the Antipolo signboard or not. Talk about getting soaked while waiting for the next Antipolo - bound jeep! And my jaws were literally shaking as the wind gets colder. I wished i didn't forget to bring my jacket but i was too busy hurrying up to even remember that.
*****
As soon i reached the bar, I propped myself comfortably on one of their reception area couches while waiting for Charles to fetch me. But i was more interested with the Metro Manila view from the glass windows of the bar. So i sat transfixed as i saw how those tiny dots amassed themeselves into a very sophisticated assembly of lights. I wish i could get a little closer to the view but i quickly realized i'm just some bystander taking shelter here and waiting for someone.
I thought probably i could spare some cash so i could sit on one of the window side tables and watch it real close without worrying myself of the bartenders' prying eyes. I fumbled on my pockets and on my planner to check on my cards and my money, but i found out i just have barely enough for the bail money i'm saving for the 15th.
And so i contented myself with just watching the glowing stretch of the metro from a distance.
*****
My reverie was punctuated by a voice calling my name. I figured it was Charles after all, waving from a van parked infront of Padi's. As i made my way out of the bar, I caught a last glimpse of the city before i got in the van.
(i don't wanna talk about the rest of the night 'cause i almost got into a little skirmish with some sluggard - which i don't wanna remember too.)
*****
The following morning, i fought the cold wrapped on my skin so i could get to the resort's front porch. As i was heading close, i could see the Ortigas Business Center stretch across the horizon. Whoa! Imagine the metro squeezed the size of your palms stretched out. You would never believe how amazed i was at the sight of it.
I remember what the parapyschologist from The Mothman Prophecies said about the power some higher beings sitting on the higher planes have. Given their strategic situation, you can imagine what grand invincibility and omniscience they've got within their fingertips.
And so i felt like one of those formidable mothmans sitting on the astral plane, looking upon those feeble mortal beings and their funny civilization, which i can just wipe out from existence with just a wink of my eye. I figured the world was so fragile i could easily smash it in a jiffy. Imagine the whole stretch of Manila all within my hands...
And in a flash, the sight snatched me back to my feet again. i began scouring the horizon for familiar figures. i was trying to look up where megamall is, but i could hardly find it from the array of buildings which now look like toy blocks from where i'm sitting. I counted from building to building as i tried to imagine where mega A and B should be sitting.
After minutes of figuring where the megamall is, i just settled myself into simply staring at it. I know i would never understand the surreal awe i felt as the whole of mega manila lies stretching across the western horizon.
The Metro would never be the same to me again.
And so i left Antipolo with the desire to again see Manila shrunk to the size of my palms in the near future.
World domination coming up next, hehehe...
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