bad karma

my thesis group had a 9am proposal defense scheduled for yesterday morning. as i was already lamenting the lack of sleep this arrangement would entail, jin, our group leader, requested that we meet two hours in advance to discuss possible last-minute presentation changes. in hindsight, i really shouldn't have agreed to that so quickly:

to be fair, i did in fact wake up on time; the problem was that i only realized that i had neglected to wear the perscribed long-sleeves and slacks just as i was about to step into the fx. the backtrack took about an hour. by the time i got back, the fx queue had stretched to such a length that if i'd lined up, i would have been on the fifth or sixth ride. i decided to take a bus instead.

running across the bicutan bridge, i realized too late that the crowd was just as large, only now i had the option to cut in if the bus happened to stop right in front of me. the fourth bus did, but not before i twice slipped on the oil-slicked asphalt. the only piece of luck i'd enjoyed so far was that my pants were black to begin with. by this time, the pre-defense meeting was out of the question; i rather focused my worry on actually getting there on or before 9.

the southbound train was already in the magallanes station when i'd arrived, and had left by the time i'd paid for my ticket. i glumly contemplated what i'd say to the group if they'd call me to inquire on my whereabouts [it was already 8:33 and i'd conveniently run out of credits a while back]. imagine my surprise when a second train pulled up not three minutes after the first one had left.

stepping inside, i was halfway through my whisper of thanks when god decided to reward my sudden prayerfulness with a blessing of water from the train's air-conditioning vents, which were right above me. this baptism was repeated twice or thrice more before we reached edsa station, although i wasn't a direct participant after the first iteration. the lrt was jam-packed, as expected, so i decided that a jeep would probably get me to school faster. at this point, it was 8:42.

although there were no lack of jeepneys, less than one-fourth were routed to pass by vito cruz. and as if this weren't challenge enough, i discovered that i had no bill smaller than a full hundred pesos to pay my fare with. it took me a full five minutes to flag down a driver with change for that amount. with that, we were barreling along taft avenue at such a rate that i actually thought that i'd arrive with time to spare.

then the jeep stopped for gas.

at 8:57, i finally caught sight of the starbucks marking the intersection of taft and vito cruz. the coupe de grace was that in my excitement, i mistook the north gate for the eng gate and consequently had to run the hundred or so meters extra. i arrived, holy water, crumpled tie, and all, just as the gokongwei clock struck nine.

life is still good.

oh, and btw, we passed.

sige ingat.ü 
posted by stani at 10:51 AM