rude awakening

after missing 2 days of work, i thought i’d report earlier today to make up for lost time. so i stumbled outdoors to buy some supplies at the corner 7-eleven store.

as i trudged back from my errand, grateful for the chance to stretch my lethargic muscles, i began thinking about the amount of work that must be piling up on my desk.

a few feet away from our gate, i jerked back in stupefaction.

my jaw dropped and the gum that i was chewing moments earlier fell into the pavement as i beheld this unabashedly, gloriously pink building that seemed to have sprouted overnight.

i looked around to check my bearings and realized with dismay that it was no illusion. the middling-sized, discreet-looking and beige-colored structure that had comfortably housed my quarters for the last 3 years has turned into some playground PINK landmark! and to add insult to injury, it even shared the same hue as the pink urinals that have been dotting the metro’s main thoroughfares for some time now. the only thing missing was the heavenly aroma.

an incessant beeping from a biker behind me brought me back to my senses. i moved aside hastily, and after a furtive glance to check if anyone was looking, i surreptitiously ducked inside.

so this must be what that loud knocking was all about last monday morning, i thought. (i’d been sick since sunday so i was basically oblivious to everything that was happening outside my bedroom.) it was way earlier than my usual waking time and my aching limbs refused to move. after a while, the knocking stopped. figuring it probably wasn’t that important, i dropped back to sleep. i realize now that it was my landlord’s way of informing us that he was embarking on his latest home improvement project.

so now i live in a pink house. not just some pastel or discreet shade of pink, mind you, but the flamboyant, hit-you-right-between-the-eyes kind of pink. ye gods!

i don’t know what i would’ve done if i had known this was going to happen. i realize of course that it’s the owner’s (our landlord’s brother-in-law) prerogative to choose whatever color he fancies, but i think i would’ve raised a fuss if i had known. or something. frankly, i never would have figured the owner to have this capricious desire to outshine his neighbors because he seemed like a sober, prosaic fellow.

but pink? sheesh… bottomline, i shudder at the idea of being known as somebody who “lives in this pink house.” why, it’s almost like an open invitation to get lynched by a bloodthirsty mob and dropped over some unmarked grave for having the temerity of casting everyone else into the shade.

so now, everytime, i enter the building i just duck my head and pretend i’m having some bad dream and will undoubtedly wake up by the time i reach my front door. *sigh* i guess it’s time to look for a different place. i can’t take much more of this.