Tuesday, November 20, 2007

an eventful 20th of november

i decided it was high time i get my butt moving. since coming back a couple of days ago, i have started to feel rather restless as to how unproductive my days are becoming. if in dubai, the days pass quickly, in manila, it's the hours that seem to fly pass you by.

i decided to start my day early, of which case i already failed at task no. 1. i have complained before of how this four hour jet lag seems to be more unmanageable than having the 12 hour one. i would fall asleep late in the night like an insomniac, and wake up at noon like a bum. pretty normal for someone in vacation. add to the difficulty in waking up is that my room doesn't get direct sunlight, the best way for me to readjust to the local time. so, i guess i am left with sheer will power again to overcome this hurdle.

my day basically started at noon with lunch, well, breakfast technically. i decided to go and get my driver's license renewed today so that i can be more mobile. i went to the transportation department near where i live with my dad (he had to get his renewed as well. he apparently has been driving with an expired license and didn't know until i asked) and spent the entire afternoon waiting. for those who are not so familiar with filipino red tape, waiting for almost a day just for your license renewal is normal. it's definitely frustrating if you are on a tight schedule but then, what can you do? either you get stressed about it, or just enjoy the wait, either way, it won't make these people work any faster.

i found it quite entertaining actually spending the afternoon there, amidst the throng of applicants. we had to first get a mandatory drug test where we had to pee in a cup. this part felt rather weird since i had to pee in front of a mirror while the officer is peeping behind you, protocol to assure that you are submitting your own personal pee. i understand that, but it's just rather embarrassing to pee in a cup with full knowledge that someone is watching you. sorry, i'm shy! then we got passed around from window to window at the department and wait till our names got called. lucky us, the system went down, so we had to wait extra long for our papers to get processed. all in all, we waited for about 3 or so hours for us to get our licenses. my dad was restless all through the entire process. he doesn't like crowded places, much more the chaos in government establishments. i on the other hand used this time to bond with my dad. i haven't had time since i came back to talk to him. i told him of all the things that i had thought about while i was in dubai, as well as all the stories and places i have seen. i would think he was rather amused of my stories since he was engaged throughout our entire conversation.

we got our licenses at about 5pm, just as the department was about to close.

the highlight of my day however was yet to come. we got word that the youngest son of one of our employees was rushed to the hospital. he apparently just fainted for no reason and hit his head on the floor when he fell. we tried looking for them at the hospital where he was rushed to but when we got there, they had already been discharged. we met up with them later at their house and asked what happened. the employee's wife was with their son at the mall when the kid just dropped unconscious. she then called her husband and they rushed the kid to the hospital where they checked him for fractures and what nots. they then discharged him and prescribed pain killers for the meantime and told them to come back around midnight so they could do a CT scan on him for any internal swellings. i did my own sleuthing as well. the kid is ginormous for a 5 year old, he looked like he was 10! he was definitely obese and sedentary. my fear is that he could have had hypoglycemia and could have diabetes. hopefully not though. anyways, my prayer goes to them. raising children is already hard, much more if they are ill.

to cap off this entry, i think it would be good to mention that i outed myself to my mom today that i was gay. not really the emotionally charged spectacle that a drama queen like myself could only concoct, but it was enough i guess. i outed myself over lunch while having my last serving of chicken soup (for the soul?, corney!). i was telling her about a gay friend of mine in dubai who i spent time with on my last couple of weeks. i guess we spend so much time with each other that ppl thought we were siblings. my mom then commented that my friend could have the hots for me. i then slipped and said that we weren't each other's types. she then popped the question, "are you saying you're gay?". asked her if it would bother her if i was.... then we talked.

to end it, my mom i feel took in this info to heart. i'm not sure how she will process this but she handled it with great love, and a bit of humor as well. i love her greatly for it. not that i loved her any less if she didn't.

No comments: