Waaahhh! I bumped my head while getting out of the tricycle early this morning. Not only did I bump my head, I scraped it as well because the metal was a little bit rough. I surreptitiously massaged it as I was walking away from the trike. Until now my head still tingles. Just one of the trials of commuting, especially by tricycle. Some tricycles have low seats and placed deep inside that it’s really a trial getting in and out. It’s one of my grandmother’s chief complaints whenever we ride the trike. Very hard on old bones 
Last Thursday I had another airport misadventure. My boss and I arrived at Tacloban airport just as they were making a last call for PAL passengers. I hurried inside with our tickets leaving my boss with the bags. An airport stevedore was urged me on and pointed me to line up at the PAL window so that I could get our boarding passes. The airport personnel took a long time to process the ticket of the person in front of me so that when it was my turn to be served, it was already 3:13pm. Out flight was at 3:55 and they had this rule about checking in 45 minutes before take off. The man at the counter informed me that there were no more seats available. I was flabbergasted. How could that be, since we already had tickets and these were confirmed tickets. He explained that it was a systematic problem. PAL Manila usually overbooks flights and it becomes a first come first serve basis and the last ones to arrive will just have to take their chances in the next flight. Unfortunately for us that meant the next day because PAL only had two flights to and from Manila daily. Taking the next flight meant staying overnight in Tacloban and flying out early the next day. However, when we went to the PAL Ticketing Office where we were referred by the men at the counter, we found out that it was still a dicey proposition because all their flights were fully booked until Sunday. There were around 10 of us passengers who were in the same situation. The manager promised to do his best to accommodate us the next day as long as we were at the airport early, around 6:00am while the flight was still at 7:45am.
So now we were left with the problem of where to stay and how to leave the airport. We were not familiar with the place. It was a long way to Baybay where we stayed for the past two days and the service vehicle of VSU already left after we went inside the airport. My boss called the director of our regional office who immediately made arrangements for her driver and a staff to fetch us and bring us to a hotel. I’m very grateful for them because they really took great care of us. After we had settled at the hotel, the director came to visit us and when she heard that we wanted to see San Juanico Bridge, the longest bridge in the country, she told us that she will send back the car to us after her driver brings her to her appointment.
It was already dark when we got to the bridge. There were few lights but you can still appreciate the beauty of the long and curving bridge. We traversed its length and when we got to the Samar side, we made a U-turn to go back to Leyte. We asked permission from the police guarding the bridge so that we can stop along the bridege to take some pictures. As usual, my camera does not function very well in the dark so I was not able get good pictures. It would have been great to visit the bridge during the day to see the surrounding vistas but at least we got to see such a historical landmark.
We started for the airport early the next day. We got there at around 6:10am. The manager was not there yet but our co-passengers were already waiting. When he arrived we descended on him like hungry vultures. Hehe. He told us that we’ll know by 7:00am. So we waited outside for the fated hour to arrive. While there I took some pictures and continued talking to Di, the regional office staff who still accompanied us. At around 6:45am we heard the PAL airplane arriving from Manila. A short time later we saw the passengers exiting the airport. Di became very excited when saw a group of guys congregating outside the airport door. It turned out it was her favorite band, 6Cyclemind. She called out to them and asked if she can have her picture taken with them. They were very accommodating.
At 7:00am we went inside to hear our fate from the manager. He gave me and my boss the gold pass while the others still had to wait to hear about their fate because only three of us can be accommodated so that left only one more slot for around 5 people. It was only after we were seated in the plane that I was able to breathe easily. Guess what? I was seated between two men, alas not the kind in my fantasies. Hehehe.
A fitting postscript to this adventure was that when we were ready to leave the airport I discovered that I lost my boarding pass where the stickers for our checked in baggage was placed. When the airport security inspected our bags I explained our predicament and showed him my ID. He was reluctant at first but when he consulted with another guard, he was told that it was ok as long as the name in the ID matched with the name in the stickers. At last, we were home free.
Summer is here once again and for me, summer is synonymous to beaches. No summer is ever complete without at least one trip to the beach. Good thing there are a lot of beaches around the country. It would be great if I can combine my love of beaches with my love of traveling abroad, which I have only been able to indulge once so far. To be able to visit such exotic places as Bali, Antigua, Bora-Bora and those Caribbean Islands would be more than wonderful. Of course, beaches with historical overtones and teeming with wildlife, like the Outer Banks of North Carolina would also be a great place to visit. Good thing there is Internet because while I can’t yet afford to visit these places, I can look them up in the web and check out the resorts and Outer Banks rentals and imagine enjoying myself in these places.
Playing in financial markets seems exciting and interesting but unfortunately, I’m not really interested in market forces and keeping abreast of business news. I just thought investing in blue chip stocks would be an easier option because you won’t have to always worry about your money. Unfortunately, I don’t have money to invest even in penny stocks, much less blue chip stocks. On the other hand, it’s not really the lack of money that’s stopping me because money can be earned, but the drive to learn about investing, market trends and all the hoopla involved in playing in the stock market, it’s just not something I’m interested in. I guess I’ll never get rich using this method. So that’s one option down, dozens more to explore
When my family moved to our new house, we had a hard time moving our stuff. Good thing we had friends to help us. Our ex-neighbor who owns a hardware store loaned us his truck for one afternoon and my brother’s friends helped carry our things. They may not have been as efficient as New York movers you hear about, but they also got the job done. It was quite a sudden move from our old apartment to the new one that can be ours in the future that’s why the move was not so organized. And having lived for more than a decade in that house, we never realized that we had accumulated so many things. We gave away a lot of our things because these would not fit in the smaller apartment. Moving is really stressful. Hopefully, I won’t have to go through another one in the near future.
I’m fond of reading romance novels, particularly historical romances set in Regency England that feature sassy and adventurous heroines. I try to picture out how these women can manage to get in and out of trouble when just thinking of how they dress, long flounced gown with tight corset, makes me wonder how they can even manage to breathe, much less move at all. I might like historical romances but I’m very thankful that I live now because I believe that maong jeans and T-shirt are the greatest clothing invention of all time.
When I was young I always wanted to learn how to ride a horse. It was something I read about in books and it seemed such an interesting hobby. The first time I rode a horse was in Baguio. It was easy to stay in the saddle because the horse was very tame and there was a guide holding the reins. We just walked around the track. It was a different matter when I tried it again in Tagaytay. This time, my cousins and I decided to try a nearby trail and the guide was riding his own horse. I was really nervous when the horse started to gallop. My cousins and I really had to concentrate on staying in the saddles. It was just a short ride, around an hour, but it was an adventure for us, nonetheless.
My grandmother told me that her niece advised her to buy sandals, which had soles that are slip resistant, like Dansko. As you grow older, your sense of balance lessens. It is not advisable to wear high heels anymore. Also, there are sandals with soles that are not slip resistant, making it dangerous to walk on polished and slippery floors, like the floors in our church. Once, I almost slipped and fell, good thing I was able to hold on to the pew. It would have been another very embarrassing experience.
I remembered when we still lived in our previous neighborhood we had a neighbor who was a drug addict. Of course I did not see him use drugs or anything but you hear whispers and rumors. It’s so sad when people become addicted to drugs, alcohol, sex, etc. He was a nice person who fell in with a bad crowd. Maybe their family situation contributed something to it with a very strict father and very little money. I don’t know if addiction treatment would have helped him but I’m sure it was something their family could not afford. I remembered that he always paid my jeepney fare whenever we coincidentally rode the same jeepney together. Maybe it was because he was older that he thought he should be the one to pay. But I remember my aunt mentioning that he paid her fare also when he saw that they were in the same jeepney. There must have been something innately good in him that he was seldom able to express. As I grew older I seldom saw him in the neighborhood. When we moved away, his father died. My mom and I went to the wake but we were not able to attend the funeral. My best friend said that the guy was there but in handcuffs and escorted by the police. It’s so sad and such a tragic waste. I just hope that sometime soon he’d come to his senses and find a way to build a brighter future. It might be a cliché but as long as there is life there is chance to change for the better.
It was past 12 midnight when the Easter Vigil Mass was finished. There was no jeepney in sight so we decided to ride the tricycle on our way home. The street was empty and the tricycle was swift. It was wonderful to feel the wind in my face with what felt like less pollution. I really liked the feeling of seeing very few people on the road. We passed by the trees and streetlights lining the road. There’s something very ethereal and peaceful about empty roads during dark nights with only streetlights and the moon providing faint lighting. Of course the sidewalks could have been hiding petty and not so petty criminals lying in wait for victims. But riding along I felt safe and enchanted with the night. Maybe when I have a car in the distant future, I’ll go driving during the night just to feel its magic again.
