driver for a day

i literally spent my entire day yesterday behind the wheel. to be honest, it was good to a certain degree since it has been quite a while since i had a day that was jammed packed with activity.

my day started early, 330am to be exact. i spent the night at my cousin's since he was going to catch an early flight to toronto on NW. needless to say he wasn't that enthusiastic about getting up that early, most especially since we got to bed past midnight. he complained about loosing his elite status with NW, thereby, had to line up with the rest of the regular members to check in. now, this shouldn't really be an issue but you also need to consider how filipinos are when traveling to north america. not less than packing the kitchen sink, pinoys can haul boxes filled with souvenirs with them, thereby making checking in baggage the most stressful leg of the journey. thankfully, cousin dear decided to check in online, in which case, he could fall on a different queue upon reaching the airport. rather than the harrowing hours he had to wait lining up with the regular flyers, he was done in a few minutes at the online check in counter. a valuable tip to all you NW flyers out there!

i dropped cousin off at the the international airport at about 515am. we said our goodbyes and well wishes and showed intentions of visiting each other in the soonest possible time, pleasantries to convince ourselves that life need not to be as difficult as it is. reality can be a bitch, both of us know this very well, but it doesn't seem to affect us that much when we are in each other's company. i watched him from my car as i drove away until i could not track him anymore, engulfed by the sea of people at the departure lobby, waving, laughing, crying, hugging, kissing... the sights and sounds of my country's diaspora.

i drove straight home after. i love driving at this time of the day. not many cars, not many people, not many on the road. though the darkness here brings out the most idiotic of motorists, it's a small price to pay for some smooth effortless driving. my brother was going to fly off to boracay in a few hours and he needed to be at the domestic airport at 8am. i managed to get home at around 530 and decided to catch some more sleep before heading out again. adrenaline however was pumping strongly thru my system and despite my efforts, i could not sleep. by the time i was ready to doze off, it was time to get up again and journey out to the airport, a good 30 to 45 minutes drive if traffic allows. it was bright out already and the roads were starting to fill up with the bane of my existence... other motorists....

after dropping off my brother, i headed to my dad's shop to hand him a cheque he needed which he forgot at home. then i was off back home, hopefully, tired enough to catch up on lost sleep. it was unfortunately not so. shortly after arriving home, my dad called and said that i had to dive back to the shop to pick up a treadmill he had purchased for himself. the store's, where he got the behemoth of a contraption from, truck broke down so they advised my dad to pick up the treadmill himself and assemble it himself. it was quite beyond me as to why my dad agreed to such a preposterous arrangement, and it's as if he's THAT eager to start working out. but the deal has been made. i then hauled my ass out again, and with a truck driver in tow, we headed off to pick up my dad's newest toy. a few minutes later, i found myself fuming as i realized how freaking heavy the toy was.

it was near noon when we got back home. i had a quick snack since i was famished, tired and fuming irritable. decided to vent out all of this energy of mine in the gym. i'll be off to pick up my grandmother in a bit and it wouldn't help to have so much energy stored in my system. i hit the gym and voluntarily had pain inflicted on me. all of that tension soon found its way onto iron and hard rubber, something i'm pretty sure they don't mind receiving.

got back home, took a quick nap and headed out again to pick up grandmum and my mom's friend. they were heading out to attend a wedding and i was chauffeur of the night . since it was going to be quite a hassle to drive back home and drive out again to pick them up when they're done, i just decided to linger and wait up. it was quite a long wait, 3 hours. i went around the nearby mall and took a stroll. harrison's plaza still looked the same as how it used to back when my dad would bring us there when we were kids, old and run down. as the mall closed for the night, i wandered back to the hotel where the reception dinner was being held and sat at the atrium lounge. i came prepared for the long wait with a book and treated myself to a pizza and a few drinks while being entertained by the live orchestra playing at the lobby. though the prices were ridiculous (713 bucks for juice and a pizza), i felt i owed it to myself to at least feel for that day that money was not an issue. at around 11, my folks were done and it was time to head back home, finally.