At 8:08 a.m., I started writing this column. It took me a while to write it, but since we are right smack in the center of what the Chinese believe to be “Ghost Month,” coupled with “Mercury on retrograde” for those into astrology, then things might as well just come to an end.
It doesn’t feel that way, though. It’s strange, but when you tell yourself to be ready for life’s strange twists and turns, all of a sudden, planetary disalignments and bad spirits don’t seem to faze you anymore. Turning “Ghost Month” into “Go Month” and telling Mercury to go retrograde itself allows all systems to go!
Hey, the sun is out and brightly smiling at me as I type this piece.
Ambiguous
Paris Hilton is coming to Manila, the Superstar Nora Aunor is back on our shores and a Senator just bid his post goodbye, with “honor and integrity.” Talk about life and the ambiguity it brings. Embrace it though, and somehow, it will embrace you back. Not too long ago, the space formerly known as Embassy/Encore finally closed its doors after seven years of almost non-stop operations. A shocker? No. Emotional? Yes. Especially for me and my partners in this establishment — YOU.
In this fast-paced tweet-every-five-minutes world, I have come to believe that some things need simmering — there is this thing called due process for feelings, for forgiveness for moving on. I guess for me to be able to write this means we all have moved on. But wait, the Twitter hash tag #embassyforever just trended globally, which says that, in some ways, moments like these remain inside of us, longer than just for one moment; that somehow, these memories do last forever.
A Thousand Memories In One Space
In the spirit of great times, we printed out photographs buried deep in our digital archives, unearthing them for gold gilded framing on the walls for the guests whose faces were there to keep. In hindsight, how can you document a thousand revelers nightly? How can you record a thousand memories happening all at the same time in one place?
Visuals can hit a nerve, music can strike a chord and feelings can drum up emotions. And when it was time to say good-bye, we chose to do it with honor and integrity, just like Migz, no matter what the perceptions were. They weren’t there through and through, but most of you were. You knew what was happening; they didn’t. You knew that more than the pounding beats from the DJ’s booth, more than the flashing bulbs from the paparazzos’s bulbs, there was a generation growing in front of our very eyes. It was a coming-of-age, if you will. We were high on life, so let it be.
As with all things, we must turn to the next page. We close the chapter because we intend to write a new one. The next chapter is already in our minds, so let our hearts be guided. I always remind the movers of this generation and the next that selflessness is key. Not “me,” but “we,” for there is so much to be done. At the Republiq anniversary, the Roman-themed revelry was just icing on the cake for what’s in store for Manila and its nightlife denizens.
The best is yet to come, we always say, and so it will. Every chapter has a beginning, a climax, and an end. Let each day be a celebration of what we intend to start and what we push to a great climax, and never to let it just end in vain. Tomorrow is another day and we have “the end” to remind us of that.
(Let’s start a conversation, follow me at twitter.com/iamtimyap)