9.07.2002
September 07, 2002 II 12:49 amI read in the papers today that the city of Manila will impose a curfew. When the ordinance is finally signed by Mayor Lito Atienza, minors will no longer be allowed to roam the streets after 10 pm until 4 am the next day.
The first thought I had was good! no more NPHs crowding the night spots. I can finally drink my beer without having to suffer high school gigglings or immature oglings. Not to mention pretentious styles and fake english accents. Oh you're so pa-coño naman!
A curfew will also mean less frat fights. These I'm indifferent too though I've heard and witnessed horrible, horrible fights. Kids wielding, not knives, but paltiks or throwing boobied Lipovitan bottles. I couldn't care less. If they want to bash each other's heads let them! That's one less stupid teenager you'd bump into at Megamall. But it's good all the same, less likely you'd be robbed so they can buy rugby or better yet Robitussin, which they can't even pronounce correctly.
But then an image struck me. I remembered my night outs with my kid neighbors. Those instant kuwentuhans and inumans. We used to live in an apartment so whenever I'm bored, I could just go out, peer at someone's window and find someone to tambay with. We used to bring out radios and listen to LA 105.9 and NU (yes Quark, we listened to NU). We'd buy beer at a 24 hour mini-grocery and someone would provide food, usually leftovers and chips. We'd talk and walk until about 3 am. We'd talk about trading cards. Those were the times when knowing the difference between Impel and Flair mattered. Or how they weren't showing good cartoons like Visionaries and Thundercats anymore. We'd walk around Banawe, Sto. Domingo, and sometimes play at Rommel's.
So I thought if they imposed the curfew ordinance then, I'd be bored like hell inside the house. I would have plotted a scheme to dominate the world. Or developed perversions. Or at the very least be condemened to hell (jacking off is considered a mortal sin, isn't it?). So in a way, staying out at nights saved my life.
But then again, I'm not the one who'd suffer if the curfew pushes through. Ha! Let the new generation think of ways to rule the world while sitting on their mommy's cushioned sofas drinking insipid Coke. They'd all be burning in hell anyway.
Ernan at 12:40 AM