'i don't get starstruck.'

that's what i told my supervisor when i explained why i was late coming back from lunch. i had pizza with a group of women, among them a well known local singer-songwriter.

when i told my supervisor the singer's name, she was suprised and asked if i was starstuck. "i wasn't," i told her. actually, i was but i wasn't going to show it while i was with them. i didn't even try taking photos -- for one thing, she was tired from a gig in MOA. she was also hungry and will be heading for another gig in saguijo. and she was there because one of the trainers was her classmate and they haven't seen each other since college.

i saw the trainer on my way down for lunch (9pm in my current schedule); the trainer stopped me and asked if i'd like to meet the singer-songwriter (whom i know was her friend from school). "sure," i said in what i hoped was a nonchalant fashion, and excused myself from the co-workers i would have had lunch with. so when the singer-songwriter arrived with another friend (who was a poet/film-maker who's currently in-grad school), our little group -- the trainer, singer-songwriter, another supervisor, the poet/film-maker and me -- headed to a pizza place outside the building. a few minutes later, we were joined by another friend of the singer-songwriter; she is an editor for a local glossy who is also currently writing a book.

i was mostly talking to the poet/film-maker the entire time; it turned out she was from LIRA and knows another co-worker who was inducted to LIRA recently. "i know some people from LIRA," i told her, because of my previous association to a local poetry group. not surprisingly, she knows some of the people i knew there. small world.

it was an interesting dinner. the trainer and the singer-songwriter apparently haven't seen each other since college and were catching up on a lot of things. the poet/film-maker who was seated across me joked that they keep mentioning people none of the other people in the table would know. "that's how me and my high school classmates are, when we get together," i told her. she mentioned that she no longer has contact with friend from high school ever since they moved from manila to cainta. "at first we didn't like moving," she said. "the place was mostly rice fields, houses are far apart. now we don't want to come back to manila."

two minutes before the end of my lunch, i excused myself and ran back to the office to end my break. i went a minute beyond the one hour allotment according to my supervisor. i said sorry, then i told her who i was dining with three minutes ago.