A Day of Viruses

Yesterday was not my day.

It was one of those days when the world seemed to be out-of-sync or plainly wanted to have fun with you as if a virus infected the day’s system, corrupting and filling it with glitches and errors.

It started with a verbal fight with a middle-aged stinking Indian who squeezed in our line to board the bus (most Indians and Pakistanis do this all the time here). I told him to fall in line, but he refused and couldn’t care less. And he kept saying, “Are you police?” and “Shut up”, which instantly made my ear turn red, while I tried to control my temper. In my anger, I cursed him in Tagalog and continued to fight verbally with him. If only we were in the Philippines, I’m telling you, that guy would have seen dazzling stars the moment he told me to shut up and would have gone to work with a serious black eye or a hurting body. No second thoughts about it. Good thing, I am in a foreign land and kept my peace or else it would have turned ugly like spending my Thursday in a police station or much worse, in jail.

Then, in the bus I fell asleep because I forgot to bring a book to read and when I awoke, I found out I was in “The Gardens”, a high-class subdivision in the outskirts of Dubai, and around 7 kilometers away from Dubai Media City where I work. Just imagine my surprise when all I saw upon waking up were constructions, rows and rows of apartment buildings, and a huge shopping mall with an Islamic-inspired architecture. Right there and then I knew I was lost and would be late for work. (This constantly happens to me even back home when I would uncontrollably fall asleep in the bus or jeep I am in and would wake up kilometers away from where I should have alighted).

Now, at the office after lunch, while all of us were enjoying the Baskin and Robbins Ice Cream treat by Jinkee, our secretary (she announced that she was pregnant), I somehow became the butt of jokes. Mario, our Sales Head and a natural comic and whacko, kept making all the ABS-CBN TFC Middle East employees laugh at my expense including our Managing Director - cracking up jokes about my Q necklace, my all black-outfit, and my being a photographer. Tried hard as I may to shift the attention to someone else, I failed miserably like an internet connection that won’t connect.

In the afternoon, Jasmine, Porus, and Mujjib, my friends and former officemates in Splash Fashion Company called me up one right after the other informing me about the deteriorating condition of Cecil, one of my Filipina ex-officemates in the said company, who was in a comatose state after giving birth to her child a few days ago. She is almost my age, and although we started as friends, when I left Splash we hardly talked to each other. The main reason for this is that I found out she was severely badmouthing everyone behind their backs including me all the time I was there. They informed me that she has been in the hospital for the past one a half months after suffering a stroke that paralyzed half of her body. Her baby was then taken out of her through operation and put in an incubator while she developed a blood-clot in her brain. As of today, she is still fighting for her life and whatever difference we may have had before, that is all forgotten now, as I pray and wish that she regains her health and life back. I sympathize and empathize with her family for as some of you may know, young my sister also had some problems after giving birth to her firstborn.

At around 6:30 p.m., as we were idly waiting and preparing to go to the Thanksgiving Day dinner party at 7:30 p.m. at our big bosses’ villa (he and his family, although every bit a Filipino, are naturalized Americans), I decided to watch “Pipol”, the TV program of veteran broadcast journalist Ces Drilon. Oddly enough, the people they featured on that show were somehow linked to me in one way or another. First there was a tribute to George Canseco, one of the Philippines beloved composers, lyricists, and hit-makers who died a few weeks ago, I think. Aside from being one of my idols in music, his grandson George Canseco III had been one of my students back when I was a teacher in Ateneo de Manila High School. Then they featured Ericson Baculinao, one of the famous left-leaning student activists in UP before the Philippine’s Martial Law years, former UP student council Chairman, and one of the most wanted anti-Marcos people during that time. He escaped possible imprisonment and torture, even death from Marcos’ military men by going to China and staying there all his life. He now is the NBC China News Bureau Chief. My link to this guy is that I was named after him by my father who idolized him during the 70’s for he was a symbol for the Filipinos’ fight for freedom and democracy in that tumultuous era. And in this feature for Ericson, they also interviewed his friend Congressman Satur Ocampo, a former top leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines-New People’s Army, who incidentally is the father of my first girlfriend Sila. There was also the commercial for ABS-CBN’s Balitang Middle East program with Rikki Kwek, one of its hosts, who is a good friend and who I, uhm, courted back in college. It felt sooo eerie watching a show with so many people you are connected to.

At the Thanksgiving dinner party, we ate a nice meal, had a fun time singing songs with the videoke, chatted with each other… and again laughed endlessly, usually at my expense. (Mario was still on an unstoppable momentum to make fun of me). It was a good night except for the fact that around midnight after the party, I was in a mad and crazy need to go home for an “error” was quickly happening in my hardware, specifically my stomach, which could create havoc in any unwanted moment. Because of my thirst and hunger and desire to drown the “glitches” of the whole day, I stupidly mixed drink and food that didn’t go together well. Aside from the sumptuous meal of grilled chicken, porkchop, pansit, afritada, and enchilada with bagoong and manga (yummy!), I uploaded three cans of beer, a bottle of Breezer plus ice cream and fruit salad. Not a good combination I tell you. Don’t worry; I was able to make it home and download all I needed to download just in time, thank goodness.

And after that, being physically and emotionally tired the whole day, I crashed in bed and turned off myself to the world with a throbbing headache.

I woke up today thinking what an odd day Thursday had been! If yesterday could only be restarted like a computer, I would have done it. But well, we live one day at a time and apparently, we do not have the power to halt whatever the day has in stored for us. Apparently folks, those were the things planned for me yesterday.

But today is a new day, and it looks like its going to be a simple, relaxing, but better day than yesterday with the fervent hope that there will be no viruses to plague it.

Or else I would have to look for a “Norton Anti-Virus” program to protect me from days like Thursdays so that it won't happen again.

And obviously, there is no such a thing.