The UP Diliman academic oval, on a weeknight, looks absolutely beautiful. Christmas lanterns, shaped like phoenixes, of various color combinations hang by each lamp post. Ran and walked with our masks on, although when we thought that nobody was looking we would pull it down and inhale sharply. Weeks of sedentary lifestyle had severely lowered my endurance.

I doubt if the UP Lantern Parade will resume this year. We always looked forward to it when we were still in college, but it also heralded terrible traffic. In 1998 the theme of the UP Lantern Parade was “Krisis Man Krismas Pa Rin”. I would argue that this theme would be very appropriate this year, but then again, it would be appropriate every single year.

After burning a few calories from such a light run we decided to recoup them all, and happily discovered that Rodic’s was open. But there were no tables, so decided to troop to UP Town Center for dinner, but the traffic along Katipunan was terrible, so we gave up.

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