They say save the best for last. In my case, save the best and worst for the last week of September.
The rampant development of events last week was simply incredible. The Game 1 of the UAAP Men’s Finals started it all. My father and I went early to Araneta to buy ‘standing room only’ upper box tickets. Like how I described the week, that day was full of upturns and downturns. A stupid tricycle driver hit our idle car at the rear just as the stoplight was about to turn green. We arrived early in Araneta but the ticket lady was just selling general admission tickets. We bought the tickets for the worst seats in the house only to find out ten hours later that the ticketpeople released the upper box tickets at a later time. Our juniors’ team won in order to survive and battle the FEU baby tamarraws in a deciding Game Three. The main event was simply a classic. It featured a tight battle between two titan schools for pride and glory. I was just amazed by the fact that UST (which was never placed as a formidable contender this season) really gave us a run for our money even up to the last second – literally. Nevertheless, it was a sweet moment as Ateneo beat UST in a nailbiter of a game in which it featured a classic finish as the Blue Eagles were able to flip the tide within a second.
So much for that. I was back to reality the following day. Last week would be one of the most memorable weeks I had in work. Well, it was primarily because it was the start of real work. It was not actually real as in REAL work because I was just a shadow to the primary duty manager. Nevertheless, what I was doing then was dealing an impact to Procter and Gamble’s business. At first, it seemed easy as I was tasked to do the simplest things. It became routine in a matter of hours. We even finished Monday solving almost all of the problems before we transferred the work to the next one in shift.
For your information, a duty manager’s work in our team in Hewlett Packard is to handle all the problems regarding the SAP/Siebel systems of Procter & Gamble. In case it gets too technical, we assign the problem to the system owners and specialists. We become a duty manager one week a month. As for the rest of the month, we would be doing system ownership and specialist work.
I was able to breeze through the first three days of DM work (except for the early part of Monday because there is too much work in queue during Mondays in Asia shift). There were even times when I was just chatting with my friends through YM because there is no problem to resolve.
The concerns, however, started by Thursday when Typhoon Milenyo hit Manila. All classes and government work were suspended as the signal number 3 storm is predicted to wreak disaster in the metropolis. Despite of that, I still felt that I need to come to office because I am doing duty manager work. I arrived early around 6:30 AM due to the impending storm. In just a matter of seconds after I stepped into the duty managers’ workplace, I received a text message from a colleague informing me that I do not need to work for the day because the typhoon would be unbearable. It was funny because she just happened to be a few seats away from me in there. Since I was there and my manager has not yet given me the ‘go signal’ to go home, I decided to stay and do shadow work. I also noticed then that the queue of jobs to do was simply long so I felt that my primary duty manager would need my hand in performing, at least, the simple jobs.
However, we had one major problem then and it had to be resolved within eight hours. My primary duty manager was working from home and she had brownout. It entailed her to call me to resolve the issue by doing some of the process. The problem was, she did not know how to fully solve it so we had to resort to contact the system owner. The problem was, the system owner was also having power failures. Thus, I had to contact the front office guy from United States to fix the issue. After paging him through our online device, he responded and was able to talk to my primary duty manager.By 10:30 AM of Thursday, I headed home. That was two hours from the time my manager gave me the ‘go signal’ to go home. Yes, I did help the company fix some issues but I did not help myself from coming home easily.
The anticipated typhoon made my mother discourage me from bringing the car to work. I also thought of it too and agreed because I did not want to get stuck in a flooded area. I guess, it was one of the stupidest suggestions my mother gave me and it was one of the stupidest decisions I made. The typhoon was simply difficult to handle if you are just commuting. The winds were blowing hard by the time I stepped out of Robinsons Summit Centre. It would even be impractical to use your umbrella as the winds would destroy it the second you open it. I could not even prevent myself from getting wet as I walk at the covered overpass in Ayala. The relatively thick trees were even waving madly. The tiny raindrops that the wind dispersed showered on my face as if I was in a ride/shower of a water theme park. Electricity was heavily fluctuating as the lights of the shops in Glorietta went on and off as if it were Christmas lights (but not the rapidly flickering ones).By the time I arrived in MRT, I thought it would be easy to come home. Heck, I even enjoyed taking shots of the typhoon scene. It was just frustrating to see that the Ayala MRT station was closed. It was then when I noticed that people were hiding in the corners. In a split second, a part of the galvanized iron sheet from the edge of the roof got detached and fell to the ground violently. Thank God, I was not in there. I was even planning to take the route exactly below it because there is no traffic in there. In fact, I was just right beneath that area a minute or two ago. Everyone was simply scared to proceed to their destinations than as the angry winds might soon carry the tumbled trash cans and sign posts. Walking against the wind was simply hard because you will really feel the wind pushing you back.
No MRT means taking the bus. So, I proceeded to the Ayala Exit of Glorietta. Soon, I found myself standing idle as I notice a group of stranded people at the exit. No one could simply go outside. I went for the last and most costly resort – taxi. Thank God, I was able to get a taxicab as soon as possible. I was in the mood to talk with the driver and soon I found out that he just got his ‘taxi’ sign destroyed by a flying branch as he was driving at Forbes. He was so frustrated because he decided to work that day (just like me). The only consolation that he had was that his windshield was still intact when the violent branch hit his vehicle. When we were at EDSA by 11 AM, the typhoon was at its peak. Those were the times when I was thanking God I was not driving. I arrived at Megamall to take the FX towards Antipolo before 12 PM.
It seemed the normal commuting route for me then, until I arrived at Antipolo. One tricycle would do it. But, where the fuck did the tricycles go?! The streets were flooded. The winds just destroyed my strongest umbrella. I am wet all over. At least, I was wearing all black then so one would not easily notice the wet effect. I waited for minutes for a transportation vehicle to come but nothing arrived. Everyone was simply stranded.
I am a person of action, or maybe that’s what I believe I am. I never liked getting stopped from doing something. If ever there is some external force preventing me from reaching my goal, I try my best to act on it. Well, that’s what the stubborn me did last Thursday. Palaban yata ako. With all my determination, I walked from the Antipolo Church to my house. It took more than an hour and it was probably around five to ten kilometers. From mud to floods to stones to any road obstruction, I was able to do it. At the end of the day, I felt as if I defeated the violent storm.
Thank God it’s Friday. There are still no classes for students and government employees but for the fifth day of the week I stepped on the streets of Makati. And, for the second time of the week, I adhered to the stupid decision of not bringing the car because there might be too much road hindrance for me to handle. Another thing is that, the MRT is not yet fixed so I could not park at Shangrila Plaza (because it has the flat rate of P40). I arrived in Makati seeing the wreck the storm made. There were too many uprooted trees. The plants along Ayala appeared like a hair combed to one side. Lots of trees have lost their branches. You are surely blind if you will not notice anything different in Metro Manila.
I chatted with my colleagues as soon as I arrive at office. We talked of brownouts (and how to get Internet connection as soon as possible), uprooted trees, and the major problem that was resolved the past day. By 7:30 AM, it was back to work as usual. My primary duty manager told me that she would just go downstairs to buy Jollibee food because she has not taken breakfast yet. It was then when my other primary duty manager told her that all the P&G Asia systems were down. As my hungry officemate was an Asia system owner, she went in panic mode as soon as possible. The moment was simply priceless because it was so comic and all. All of the Asia system owners went in panic. My primary duty manager forgot all the hunger she had because of that. Fortunately, our manager was in a good mood and bought us Starbucks breakfast food (I got a ham and cheese croissant even though I never asked for food since I always come to work with a full stomach). As they were busy fixing the Asia systems (which was caused by the power outage in Singapore… which in fact did not even experienced the wild typhoon), the major and critical problems spontaneously filled our queue. As both the duty managers were intensely busy, I had to handle some of the problems – some of which, I have no idea to resolve. There was even a situation when someone got angry on me because I could not execute the job he was asking me to do (although I was not authorized to do that job and someone who could perform it was even online… he was just an ass to me). Even though I was just a shadow duty manager, I appeared stressed like a normal duty manager would be. At the end of the day, my officemates including my boss congratulated me for ending my first shadow work. They told me that my experience was the hardest because I had the worst case scenarios: suspended work and lots of systems going down.
When it rains, it pours. Hard luck continued to suppress me as I head towards home. The truth was, I was not yet heading towards home; I needed to meet someone at Shangrila Plaza. I went to the MRT for the quick thirty minute ride to the said destination. MRT still closed. I tried to get a cab because my bag is simply hard to carry with the laptop inside. Everyone is in line to get a taxi. It was simply hopeless. I decided to take the bus. The moment I saw the filled buses, I knew that it was impossible. I canceled the meeting and I proceeded towards home by riding the FX. Lesson learned: bring your car. It’s better that I can do something in such situations than be fully hindered by external factors.Saturday. The day I usually enjoy a long sleep. Long sleep? My ass. By 4:30 AM, my mother was shouting at me to wake up because I need to drop my brother to La Salle for his NSTP before 7 o’ clock. The fucked up MRT and LRT stations did not help my cause as I would surely need to go to Taft. The consoling factor, however, was that there was no traffic. I was speeding my way at 80 kilometers per hour in Makati. The electricity-hindered stoplights further made the driving a breeze through. My brother arrived at La Salle by 6 AM only for me to find out a day after that his NSTP session was canceled. Since I was on the road, I did not proceed to come home for the remainder of the day. I went to Ateneo. Then, I went to Araneta Coliseum by 8:45 AM only to find out that the Shopwise carpark would open by 9:00. I spent some gas by going around the Araneta Center with my dismay of seeing a lot of people lining up for the ‘standing room only’ tickets for the Finals’ Game Two.
If there is one thing I hate the most about UAAP, that would have to be lining up for the tickets. You line up early but you still get the worst tickets. You will line up for three hours to get that dreaded ticket then you will notice that some people who have just arrived then would get the same fucked up tickets as you had – without them even lining up. But if you attempt to do it, you will never get any ticket at all.
That’s life. It is always unfair.
Yes, life is unfair. One way of getting back at it is by being unfair too. My officemate reserved seats at Upper B for us (meaning, we who have gen ad tickets). At the middle of the Ateneo-FEU Juniors bout, we jumped from the general admission area. In short, it appeared that we bought Upper B for half of its price plus we had the experience of breaking the rules and we had reserved seats at the middle of the upper box section (just below the Babble) – the best seats in the house!
Again, life has its ways of getting back at me. I never watched a won game whenever I jump from Gen Ad to Upper B. The streak of that negative karma continued yesterday as Ateneo lost to UST to force the rubber match this Monday.
My officemates and I ate for more than an hour after the game. I was just fortunate that my USTenian officemate was nice to me despite of all the taunts I shouted at the UST players (well, I only taunt those arrogant players in fairness). My carpark ticket reached its 13th hour and I have to pay P70 (cool! That’s relatively cheap for a variable rate). The last straw of bad luck this week occurred as I made the wrong turn towards home as I got stuck at Aurora Boulevard for about thirty minutes. I made up for it as I just zoomed my way home from Katipunan in less than thirty minutes.
It’s been a week of upturns and downturns. Of shadows, storms and the shitty loss to me.
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