Oh yes, it was also my first birthday wherein I was awake for 24 hours. It started the night before. My housemates and I went to Centerstage for a night of videoke with some friends. Dapat 3 hours lang ‘yung videoke at matatapos kami ng 11pm pero dahil napasarap sa kantahan, na-extend ng isang oras at naabutan na nga ang birthday ko.
I planned sana to go to Javi’s party after to meet up with my film school classmates pero walang pumuntang classmate so I just said yes to a coffee meet-up with a friend. Okay naman. Napasarap ulit ang kuwentuhan and we ended up talking around 3AM.
Since di pako nakapag-empake and I still have to download some stuff sa net, I decided na ‘wag na lang matulog. I was also scared na baka di ako magising. My flight was at 10:10 AM and I was thinking that I should leave the house by 7 para makarating sa airport ng 9. Mukha namang may sense that time. I did leave the apartment at 7 pero dito na nag-start ang kamalasan.
I super underestimated the holiday traffic. It was bumper-to-bumper from Project 7, where I live, to the airport. Sobrang nininerbyos nako kung aabot pa ba ako sa flight ko. I finally arrived at Centennial 30 minutes before the flight. I was optimistic I could still get in. After all, that wasn’t the first birthday na na-late ako sa flight ko pauwi ng province. Back in 2004, na-late din ako but the aiport supervisor let me in when I told her it was my birthday. Dapat lesson learned na ‘yun eh pero heto nga, I was late again and unluckily this time, ayaw nakong papasukin sa eroplano.
It was so frustrating pero bangag ako eh so medyo hyper pa. Nag-feeling Amazing Race ang lolo n’yo and hailed a cab to NAIA 3. There’s a Cebu Pacific flight that will leave on a later time and I thought na baka pwede akong maging chance passenger dun. Luck, however, was still not on my side. Wala nang slots para maging chance passenger. :(
Sobrang na-down talaga ako dun! Wala akong tulog, pagod na pagod at uwing-uwi na kasi talaga ako. Since Amazing Race pa rin ang feeling ko that time, I felt like those racers who got eliminated during their birthday (Jen of Amazing Race US and one of the lesbos in Amazing Race Asia came to mind.) Siyempre nandun na rin ang lungkot na I had to pay additional charges para sa re-booking ng flight. Wala na kaya akong pera. :(
Lugmok!
Ewan ko kung pano ko napagdesisyunan pero while I was already back in Centennial to have my flight re-booked, biglang pumasok sa isip ko na tutal magbabayad na rin naman talaga ako, why not leave Manila na lang talaga that day and go home via Dumaguete in a flight that afternoon. In fairness, the idea excited me! Sanda, my high school classmate who has a travel agency, helped me score a ticket. She was able to get me a business class seat with payment na pareho lang kung magpapa-rebook ako ng flight the following day. Not bad at all! :)
Kala ko tapos na ang malas! Di pa pala mga ‘te! After taking some pics inside Mabuhay Lounge (Sensya na po! First time kong ma-business class at makatambay dun! Hehe!)…
…binuksan ko na laptop ko para makapag-internet while waiting for my flight. Hala, ayaw mag-on! Nabagsak ko kasi siya nang slight nung tumatakbo ako papuntang airport pero di ko naman inakala na masisira ng ganon lang. Iniisip ko pa lang ang mga files na pwedeng mawala sa laptop na ‘yun, naiiyak nako. Kaso wala nga kong tulog kaya wala akong ma-feel. Ang alam ko lang, ang malas kong birthday celebrant.
Siyempre dahil it comes in 3’s, hindi natapos dun ang lahat. Sabi ko kasi iidlip na lang muna ako and so I planned to put my phone in discreet mode. Lo and behold, ayaw nang gumana ang switch button ng cellphone ko! UGH! Can you imagine what that meant?! It meant that once I turn off the phone during the flight, hindi na siya masi-switch on ulit! Grabe, di ba?!? Ngayon ko lang na-realize while I’m writing this na buti na lang talaga at wala akong tulog or else baka nag-breakdown nako dahil sa mga pangyayari.
Buti din na na-text ko si Renair, my high school classmate, before the whole thing happened. He fetched me in Dumaguete Airport and was kind enough to bring me first to the cellphone and laptop repair shops before driving me to OK Pen. Mukha namang naiwan ko ang malas sa Manila because in fairness nga naman, I had a high school classmate who drove me around to where I wanted to go.
In fairness rin kay Lord, my high school classmate Marita gave me the room in OK Pensionne House for free (their family owns the place). In fairness pa rin, even if my laptop was due the following day pa which was a problem since I was already leaving for home, my kababayan Andrew was also in Dumaguete and would be able to get the laptop for me.
Ayokong magpaka-cheesy pero wala akong masabi but thank you sa mga High School classmates ko who went all out para lang magkaron pa rin ako ng happy birthday. Sanda paid for the whole food and drinks in Lab-As Restaurant (they own the place). Hope and Marita bought the Silvanas birthday cake. Chegay came all the way from Tanjay Negros Oriental just to attend my birthday dinner and gave me this cute David and Goliath shirt. If there’s really one thing that I realized that day, it’s how God blessed me with friends for keeps. Maswerte pa rin talaga akong tao! Kaya siguro ang masusukli ko na lang sa pagiging maswerte ko sa kaibigan is to be a real friend to everyone kahit na “mean boy” ko paminsan-minsan. :)
Maraming maraming salamat sa inyong lahat, kaibigan! :)
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