Yesterday was another textbook example of things not going according to plan.
My aunt was scheduled to pay a visit to her doctor yesterday, as well as meet up with the folks at her health insurance company to renew her membership. Now last week, I drove to and from Novaliches to Makati to do a lot of stuff, from shopping, to frisbee, to taking my aunt to the bank and meeting up with friends that I haven’t seen in several months. I had no plans of enduring several hours of traffic, so I insisted that we go on Friday. I wanted the first four days of the week to rest and remain at home. Incidentally, my orientation at Lyceum University (Intramuros-based school where I would be teaching on a part-time basis) was scheduled on Friday, so I would then take my aunt to Makati in the morning, attend my orientation in the afternoon, and hit the gym in the evening. Three chores hit with one drive.
Friday came, much to my aunt’s enthusiasm. She woke me up at 5:30 am, hoping to get to Makati before the usual traffic buildup. Unfortunately the slowpoke in me made sure we left the house at about 8 am, two hours ahead of schedule. When you’re going to Makati, you either leave the house before 6am or after 8am, because if you leave the house in between, you’ll be greeted with a massive headache of cars, fellow hot-headed drivers, blaring horns, morning clutch leg pains and the occasional stomach ache that decides to come up when you’ve left the house and stuck in the middle of bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Unfortunately, that tactic didn’t work, simply because it was Friday. No matter what time it is, as long as its Friday, the roads will be tight and congested. So for two and a half hours, I labored and squeezed through Commonwealth avenue, Katipunan, C5 and buendia. And then, just only a few minutes away from reaching her doctor’s office, my aunt suddenly realized that she had forgotten everything that she needed – papers, health insurance membership cards, everything.
Much to my irritation, she offered a whirlwind of apologies. I had then decided that it was no use to sulk and curse the world for such an atrocity, so I headed to the nearest KFC drive-thru station and demanded that my aunt make up for it with a decent breakfast. She willingly obliged.
After we had our fill, she requested to have her dropped off at SM Megamall, where she wanted to attend the First Friday mass. It would have been easier for me to get to Lyceum from Makati, but since I couldn’t let her wait outside the school as I was toured around it, there was no other option but to take her there. After all, she had just given me a freebie. So I turned around and went back to EDSA.
And just a few minutes before I was set to drop her off, I received a text message from my coordinator (in all-fluent textspek) at Lyceum:
“Gud am! Freshmen orienation move on tues either am 8-11 or pm 1-4 ty! Txt bac pls!!”
Damn.
What the hell did I get up at 6am for ???
I had just spent five hundred bucks on gas plus a few ounces of sanity on gas for two canceled appointments.
As much as that pissed me off, I had decided to just join my aunt for mass and lunch. As we neared Megamall, we passed by the AIC gold tower along Ortigas avenue. A year ago I, a couple of my roommates and a friend from college were supposed to move into a two-bedroom unit on the 29th floor. The room was offered centralized airconditioning. It had a huge kitchen and bar, a wide living room, a long dining table and even a room to wash clothes. We would be splitting P30,000 monthly (including bills) between the four of us, but that was a small price to pay for the right to brag to your friends that you had a high-rise condo unit in one of the city’s top commercial districts. We were just a few steps away from Robinson’s Galleria and SM Megamall, five minutes away from the MRT which offered us easy access to Makati. And boy we had plans of making that place an ultimate bachelor’s pad.
At that time, I was so relieved to finally find a place near work and three friends to share the rent. I was utterly exhausted from having to drive all the way from Novaliches to Makati to work killer hours at one of the world’s top advertising agencies. Things looked to be getting brighter, when just a week before we were about to move in, one of my roommates backed out. And he did it in an utterly disrespectful manner. He had ceased to communicate with us, leaving us completely in the dark as to when or where he would give us his share of the initial downpayment. Then the day before the deadline, he surprised us all with this text:
“Looks like you guys have a problem. I’m going to singapore so I won’t be able to join you guys. Sorry.”
That and the fucking bastard just decided to walk out on us.
We were taken by surprise, and were forced to bear the embarassment of having to tell the unit owner that we were backing out. I was the one most devastated by what had happened. That condo was the last string of hope I was clinging on to help me survive my cutthroat job. Without that, I was sure to burn-out and resign. Within a couple of months, I had called it quits.
Looking back, that moment was one of the worst experiences I had gone through. I was tired, exhausted and desperate for a place to rest. And to come only a few days to finally getting that rest, and then see it slip away again was just too much to bear. But had that not happened, I would not have had the courage to leave my job and take the risks of spending half a year in New York City. Had that not happened, I would not have been able to meet my mother and finally get to know her face-to-face. I would have not been able to discover the truth about my destiny – that my real life is waiting for me in the United States. I would not have been able to run my first half-marathon, quit smoking, overcome my addiction to food and self-loathing. I would not have been able to discover the joy I get from placing a camera on my eyes and a pen and paper on my hands. I would not be writing this now.
One of my friends eventually found a unit in Greenhills and is now enjoying living life on his own. The other has come back from Singapore and is working here again. The other was able to get a job working as a ground attendant at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport. So as much as things didn’t go according to plan, things eventually worked out. And when they eventually work out, things turn out to be much better than we had actually planned them to be. Never worse. Only better.
If I had to waste five hundred bucks and six hours on the road to be reminded of that fact, then maybe it was worth it.
