knowing ortigas and taureans

was in ortigas earlier today to run a few errands. it's just amazing how different it is now than when i was last there some years ago to work.

yeah, flashbacking mode ito.

sa strata 100 kasi ako pumunta, sa office ng mega magazine (where i contribute as a writer now). strata 100 was my "old playground" to quote lola madonna, dahil dito located ang dati naming office na premiere entertainment productions (or PEP as we called it). the revival of one of the 4 influential film studios of the golden age of philippine cinema, pep was my home ng mga 2 years or so, in the mid-90s after i graduated from UP film.

gulat lang ako kasi hi-tech na sila. dati, pinagti-trip-an pa naming umakyat sa floor namin o bumaba gamit ang stairs. yes, bata pa nga kami noon... pero ngayon, hi-tech na ang elevator. you have to key in the floor number na gusto mong puntahan, not merely up or down. ngayon lang kasi ako nakakita ng ganitong elevator kaya nagulat akesh.

iba na rin ang paligid doon. syempre mas marami na siyang kainan. di tulad dati, kung sosyal na kapihan na disente ang pagkain at presyo ang type namin, sa au bon pain kami, this small french café sa may taipan place. hindi pa uso ang mga paborito niyong starbucks, seattle's best o figaro noon. kung mall naman, dalawa lang ang nilalakad namin: megamall o galleria. ngayon, may podium pa. di counted ang shang kasi malayo na siyang lakarin lalo na kung naka-corporate attire ka (which was our get-up back then).

nga pala, nadaan ako sa newly opened store ng radar pridewear sa poduim kanina. maganda siya. good luck girls!

kapag sweldo at trip naming mag-pig-out, sa el pueblo lang kami namimili ng kakainan. either tgifriday's lang naman yun or rack's. at pag inuman, lalo na happy hour, sa sidebar kami pumupunta. o kaya we carpool and visit our favorite haunt of all time, malate, where we hang out at café adriatico or somewhere else there, kung ano ang nice. episode and verve used to be nice, and used to be there. i'm not sure if it's still there.

those were really the days, eh?

nakakatawa lang. when my girlfriend and i made an appointment last year to see each other, ang marker namin ay "yung mcdo sa kanto sa likod ng megamall." being familiar with ortigas, alam namin agad kung saan iyon. everybody knows where that is. pero lo and behold, when we arrived, mcdo was no more...at isa na siyang malaking st. francis square chenes mall-y thing... funny talaga yun...and strange...for a while, na-lost akong nakatayo sa kantong iyon, figuring out what happened to the landmark i knew, and also figuring out where i could meet my girl at that area.

the landmarks of our youth are now being replaced by new landmarks of the youth of today. i guess ganyan lang talaga ang life. papalit-palit ng markers. for a taurus like me, that's both disconcerting kasi and exciting, depende sa sitwasyon.

was talking nga with a dear friend days ago about this. napaka-typical taurean ko nga raw. steady lang, di tulad ng iba naming friends na super-flash ang gusto, super-yaman, quick cash, quick fame, all that jazz. hindi kasi ako ganun e. at ayokong maging ganun. i'd rather be slow and steady, but sure of where i am, where i want to be, and where i'm going. if they want to live life in the fast lane, ako sa steady lane lang. kahit mabagal, i don't care. i'm in no rush to run my life. kaya okay na ko sa pace kong ito. deal with it.

kaya funny lang ulit when i had the chance to work again sa isang IT company sa ortigas ulit, this time sa JMT building ba yun? the one na katabi ng el pueblo na. even though i lasted in that stupid company for 5 months lang, nag-flashbacking mode ako ulit sa ortigas life ko noong mid-90s (mga early 2000s na kasi itong IT ek).

noong time naman na iyon, i was also active as a contributing writer of lifestyle and entertainment sections of a lot of publications both print and online. trip ko naman noon ang assignments na mag-review ng mga kainan. at isa sa na-feature ko ata noon ay yung tea parlor na struan and tang's located sa likod ng strata 100 kalye, sa katabing building nito. pero wala na rin iyon ngayon.

dami ko pang ibang napuntahan at na-review sa ortigas area din, pero sadly, wala na nga rin karamihan sa kanila. mabilis talaga ang turn-over sa food n beverage places na ganyan e. oh well.

ano na kaya ang hitsura ng ortigas when this decade is over? mabilis ang facelift ng places these days. sometimes, i wonder if we will ever catch up with all of them. but then again, do we need to?

la lang.