A long overdue post

The Birthday Post

It's been 5 days since my birthday.

Last Thursday, 20% of my loyal blog readers asked me why I haven't been updating my blog. (Hey, one out of five is 20%!) Wala bang bday blog dyan? Sawa na ako sa lumang post mo a!

If I were still in college, then the last two weeks would be my hell week. My day often started at 530 am and ended at 11pm. And the weekends, I spent baking for Delici. Looking back now, I don't know how I managed to survive. :) I'm just glad my hell week is over.

Anyways, my birthday came and went without much fanfare. Mike called me 12am to remind me how old I am now. Harhrhar.... he sometimes forgets our age gap. Then there was the deluge of text messages from suppliers, irate customers and well wishers. Client meetings throughout the day. Lunch at Max's Pulilan -- where their waiters sang a birthday song and gave me a scoop of ice cream with a candle on it. I almost cried. :) By the time I got home, I almost forgot it was my birthday. All I wanted to do was sleep, sleep, sleep.

I turned in early, but before I closed my eyes, I thought about how much things have changed since last year. How have I changed? What have I learned? How many lives have I touched?

How have I changed?
I'm getting married eight months from now. I now live with six other cousins, who, in reality, are people I barely know. We now have 18 dogs in the house. Yes, the dogs outnumber the people.

What have I learned?
I learned that there is nothing to fear but fear itself. Things DO happen. Things WILL happen. All up to me how I'll handle it.

I have learned that people who disagree with me aren't always wrong. They are just seeing things from a different point of view. I can learn from them too.

I have learned that I can get through the day with 4 hours of sleep.

I learned that there is nothing wrong with being an introvert. For years, my mom had criticized me for being one. There were the not-so-subtle sermons that said introvert = not going anywhere in life. And for years, I was frustrated with myself for not being able to instantly click with people I just met, the way an extrovert could. And then I met some quiet people, who were wise beyond their years and preferred to observe rather than be the center of attention. So now, I don't make a huge effort to click with strangers. If the spark is there, it's there. If it's not, then it's no big deal.

How many lives have I touched?
I don't know. But I know that the number is not big. So next year, when I look back, I want a bigger number.

Third Time's the Charm

I was pulled over by the police, three times in one week. First incident happened on Thursday, I was happily driving out of McDonald's drive thru in West Ave. when I saw this police car with a police man inside waving. I thought it just wanted to clear the traffic, but after a few seconds, I realized it was waving AT ME, motioning for me to pull over. I saw that if I stopped where I was, I would be causing traffic so I parked in front of their car. The police man frantically went for his gun, and acted like he was going to shoot me. Was so pissed! Anyways, the first thing they did was ask for my OR / CR, which I dutifully gave them. They then said that the photocopy was so blurred it was difficult to see who the car owner was. I looked at the paper, and saw my name CLEARLY printed on it. Pissed, I pointed it out to them. Not satisfied with the papers, they circled the car, sniffing like a pair of dogs gone mad. They checked my tires, checked the trunk, and then they said I had no validation sticker on my windshield. Question: Is it illegal to not put the validation sticker on the windshield? Even if I have them plastered all over the plates? They probably saw the stickers on the plates so the next thing they proceeded to do was to ask me to open the hood, which I blindly did. Ah ha! Things started to go downhill from there. They asked all sort of questions about things inside the hood. I was already panicky by this time. The two policemen were from the TMG -- traffic monitoring group ata or something irrelevant. An uncle (family friend) belonged to the same group. I called him up and asked him to help me. He knew the policeman pala. So he talked to him and things went well.

The thing is, if I didn't know anyone from TMG, the policeman would have impounded my car for baseless carnapping suspicions. I ask you, my five loyal blog readers, do I look like a carnapper to you? Ay naku!!! By the time the whole brouhaha was over, my voice had risen by a few decibels, and I was in no mood to understand their stupid reason why they asked me to pull over. Even more insulting was the fact that a small crowd of uzis had gathered around the car, and were all eyeing me like I was some sort of .... carnapper. I'm thinking of writing to the Inquirer's complaints section.

The next day, I was driving in Osmena highway, when I was asked to pull over... AGAIN. What did I do wrong this time? I still don't know, and I guess I'll never know. I rolled down my windows, and watched as the police approached me from behind the car. He took one look at the car and said I can go. WTF?!?!@*$!@) I think maybe he saw the seals plastered on the windshield of the car I was driving. But I would love to know what offense I committed that day.

And then on Wednesday, four days after the Osmena highway incident, I was on my way to a business dinner when I was pulled over for ... SWERVING. I was with our foreign supplier that time, and I asked him if I did swerve, just so I'd know. He didn't think so. So...

Police: Ma'm good ebning pow. Alam niyo ma'm, may mga kutsi kasing didiretso dyan sa lane niyow eh. Pakita nga hu ng lisensya niyow.
KT: (hands over license to buwaya in disguise)
Police: Ma'm paki labas lang ho ang lisensya niyow. (My license was buried under several business cards)
KT: Bosing, paki ulit nga lang ho, ano ba ang ginawa kong mali?
Police: Ma'm eh kasi how, may mga kotse hong didiretsow sa lane ninyow.
(Note: I passed by the place where I supposedly swerved, and I saw that the lane where I was driving that night was the lane specifically for cars who wanted to turn right. Crap.)

I called my brother to tell him I was pulled over, AGAIN, for the third time in one week. You see, I call my family for traffic problems because I really don't know how to handle situations like those. My brother told me to ask the police to let me go off with a warning. So I did.

KT: Manong, baka pwedeng pagbigyan na lang niyo ako kasi di naman talaga swerving yon eh.
Police: Ma'm, kasi how...may mga kutsi hong didiretsow eh. Akin na how ang lisensya niyow.
KT: Hindi sige ganito na lang. Papunta na dito ang tatay ko, kausapin na lang niyo siya.
Police: Bakit, ano ba posisyon ng tatay niyo?
KT: Basta kayo na lang ang mag-usap pagdating niya.
Police: (silent for a moment) Saan ho ba galing ang tatay niyo?
KT: Basta kayo na lang ang mag-usap. Papunta na yon.
Police: Naku, inabala mo pa tatay mo.
KT: Wala naman hong problema. Dyan dyan lang naman kami nakatira eh.
Police: (silent again, while staring at me the whole time)
Police: Bakit mo pa tinawagan ang tatay mo? Inabala mo pa. Di naman kita tiniketan ah.
KT: Basta kayo na lang ang mag-usap pagdating niya.
(Hey, I can repeat myself too!)
Police: Di mo naman kailangang tawagan eh. Pwede mo naman ako pakiusapan.

And there it was.... the tag line I had known was coming.

KT: Manong, kanina pinakiusapan ko na kayo. Ayaw niyo. Kaya kayo na lang mag-usap.
Police: (silent for a few seconds, then proceeds to repeat himself) Alam mo, pwede mo naman akong pakiusapan.

By this time, I had grown very tired of hearing him repeating himself. So I kept quiet and just stared straight ahead.

Police: O sige, nakakahiuya naman sa kasama mo eh. May pupuntahan ata kayo. Para di ka na din maabala.

Harharhar....