(Note: to see the photos, click on linked text :) )
On November 2005, I was visiting my friend Amrei's office when they have decided to repaint and do a make over project to the office. One day, near the end of the month, I walked into the office's living room-like waiting area with drawings on the wall. Two huge figures of what seemed to be Amrei, and Teks' (an officemate) caricatures. Amrei's caricature had its arms over her head, no shirt with X marks on the nipples. Teks' caricature was sitting on a toilet bowl, with stretched arms and wearing only polka-dotted panties, with the words "future rockstah". There were small drawings of other people. Their officemates - Dwight, the admin officer, answering a telephone call, and Bernard, the messenger/utility, holding a plastic of pancit with the bubble "Naku, Ma'am" There were drawings of some of their friends too - June, Tek's then girlfriend, a tutor, in front of a blackboard. Aileen, Amrei's ex-gilfriend, with her new boyfriend, in front of their car. And me, the frequent visitor. I was wearing a sleeveless top with a star on the middle. I was smoking, with humongous sunglasses and arm bangles. With a bubble that said a lot. Haha.
The office repainting was scheduled a few days after that first set of vandalism. Dec 03, 2005 to be exact. But it was postponed and postponed again for different reasons. So everyone who went to the office would be 'asked' to write something on the wall.
I was formally hired by the company on January 02, 2006, and I wrote "Lugao, Tokwa" as I was then a vegetarian and there was a nearby Lugawan in the office for a midnight food trip. Teks draw a scoreboard somewhere on top with "Vital Tunggels" scoring high, since now, officially, we have outnumbered the boys in the company where there were only five regular employees of two boys, and now, three lesbians.
Someone wrote "Cherifur is bad!" because she apparently did not become taller drinking Cherifer but instead, gained weight. Someone wrote "Jay Manalo was here!" -- a Balikbayan friend who watched Feng Shui for a dose of the current Philippine Cinema. My friend Mei wrote "Karl hart Mei". Mei is the manager of Sand Lady (formerly Slow Dive) who was then with Karl, the guitarist.
Eduardo Roy, or Edong to many, a filmmaker-friend, wrote "Ang Pinakamahabang Short Film" as mockery of his short film "Ang Pinakamahabang One Night Stand" while editing this film in the office. Manix Abrera, a long-time friend, was asked by the company to do the illustrations for a client's activity book, drew his famous punk character in his Kikomachine comics strip saying "Asteeg!"
Some of our orgmates drew funny caricatures and wrote funny one-liners like "Bakit may gloves si Bugs Bunny", or "Ipaghihiganti ko si Erik ~ Vina Morales", after Erik Morales lost to his match with Manny Pacquiao. Then after Mo Twister's controversial interview with Borgy Manotoc, someone added "♥ Borgy Manotoc" after Vina's name.
On September 2006, Teks and June broke up. June wrote so many heart-felt excerpts from her poems to the wall. Most of these, most probably, were things that she couldn't tell Teks directly. But the walls did became a concrete medium to voice out such love notes.
You see, there was so much fun, memories, and history written all over these walls. They were un-edited, honest and spur of the moment thoughts. Some drawings and words were really naughty and not for the faint of heart. They were relaxing, releasing and liberating, They were real, strong and hard-hitting. Everyone enjoyed writing to our accidental freedom wall. I mean, you can't easily find a wall to write on, right? A freedom wall to its truest sense.
Then yesterday, one year and eight months later than planned, the walls were finally painted with fresh, warm colors. Colors that suddenly covered the sensored drawings. Beautiful hues that hid the sadness and painful truths.
Though prepared, I was in awe when I walked in to room 201. I even chose the colors green and yellow for the walls. But I was still so surprised to see these really pretty new walls. There was even a dramatic red floor light going on. I sat on the couch and looked at the wall. It was empty, but pretty. Nothing like a freshly painted wall in yellow. Then suddenly, inch by inch, I traced the drawings that were once there. The words that touched. The funny lines that comforted. I was a bit saddened, but then again, I thought, this is a start of a new history. Of (literally) brighter days. I saw something so pretty, so clean, innocent. I saw fresh. This is anew.
We couldn't allow walk-in clients before for the walls were untidy. But now we can. And if these walls did talk, maybe now, it will not. But it will exude interesting vibes. We are a creative agency. And now, with this big move to finally erase our naughty nature, I can say that we are ready to be more competitive. We are ready to move on, and we have matured.
Maybe years from now, the wall will again be a big canvass for our creative and naughty stints. But for now, the wall will just be beautiful, and clean, and all grown up. Goobye writings on the wall, until next time.
