I just arrived home.

Okay, nothing unusual about that. Let me revise that and say that I just WALKED home after having drinks with one of my friends.

I’ll give you the background deets first so you can follow me. I live in a place that’s pretty much known as a university town, as it’s home to several big-name schools such as the Ateneo, Miriam College, and the nearby University of the Philippines. I’d liken it to Heidelberg, Germany or some place similar to that…but without the old castle, of course.

I’m pretty lucky, having lived in a village that’s a stone throw away from ALL my past schools, be it elementary, high school or college. It’s convenient all around, packed with restaurants, groceries, bookstores and even a gym that I can easily walk to. I remember days of walking from my house to the nearby Starbucks at one in the morning, just to get that caffeine fix to power up my night-long plate-working sessions.

Then there was the thing called a CURFEW.

Yes, I understand that it’s for our own good. Being the paranoid person that I am, I DO value safety and security and all that jazz.

But 11 PM? SERIOUSLY?! Isn’t that just about the time the night really begins? Couldn’t they make it midnight, at the very least?

What sucks the most is that my house is a cartwheel away from the pedestrian gate. Since it’s locked, I had to walk all the way around the inside of the village. Not sure how many miles that is; let’s just say that instead of walking the usual two minutes from pedestrian gate to my house, it took around fifteen to twenty.

Awesome, ain’t it?

I wasn’t sure how safe it was to walk it, but I’ll be darned if I’ll be scared to walk a few measly miles in what is essentially my home town. I must say, walking that much does wonders for a tipsy head. There was an odd peace in the silence and emptiness of the roads. It was creepy, yet comforting to see my solo shadow eating into the glow cast by the street lights. And listening to “Breath of Life” by Florence & the Machine on my earphones, well…

You get the picture.

How’d I get in that situation in the first place? It started with a play in which my friend was cast. It was actually a Filipino adaptation of Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”, entitled “Sintang Dalisay”, complete with deep and meaningful Tagalog, woven mats (what we call banig) being passionately flung around the stage and folk dancing with lots of wrist turnings. I especially loved the kulintang, et al, music; it really added to the authenticity of the whole production.

Anyway, I watched that play, then a friend and I had dinner over at Bonchon. Drinks followed after, at a local watering hole mostly populated by college students. Darn, did I feel old! It was there that we got held up. With all the candid talk about life goals, career plans and sex over a pitcher of zombie, we sort of lost track of the time.

Before I knew it, there was that locked gate and that abandoned winding road ahead of me (sounds familiar?). I figured that if I wanted to hack it as a solo traveler someday soon, I might as well start on familiar territory.

I made it here and am typing away at my keyboard now, so it all worked out. And here ends one of my random posts. 😛