Blank Space

photo courtesy of www.etsy.com

     Nothing happened really much today. There was work and my preparations to go to Allan. I had to wait longer for the bus that'll take me to Pasig. Normally, there's a bus already waiting, but today we had to wait for about 20 minutes for one to pick us up. The trip was uneventful and given that its the summer vacation, traffic was not so heavy and the bus wasn't so crammed with passengers wanting to go home.

     Allan is still sleeping since its his rest day. So there.

Rich People Problems

photo courtesy of www.interaksyon.com

   The trip from Pasig to Malcanang was horrendous today. I left at around 2 PM with the anticipation that there would be heavy traffic in some areas. I didn't realize that a school would cause it. The bus that I ride passes by La Salle Greenhills and even before we got the there, the traffic was so heavy that it took us an hour to move from Robinson Galleria to the POEA. It took another quarter of an hour for us to get out of the that bottleneck area. Apparently parents where picking up their children and they were taking up 3 lanes of the road. Even if there was a billboard where La Salle apologizes for the inconvenience and promises to find a solution for this, I feel like it's not really the problem of the commuters as a whole. The road in which the cars of the parents are parked is a public road. It shouldn't just be allocated for them. That is clearly a preferential treatment by city of Mandaluyong.

   But he rich people. 

Zapped out.

photo courtesy of nibbo.com

   We, more specifically I, took a beating last weekend. After finishing my work, I rushed to get a bus going to Galleria. The monster that we call traffic was slowly catching up with me, and it took over an hour, not including the crazy rush hour just to get to Galleria to meet with Allan. His teammates are planning to do their team building Cavite. The place is relatively near his parents' house so he decided it would be a good idea to so that we could drop by and spend some time with them. We left Manila at around 4 PM. We thought we'd probably get to Cavite by 7 PM. We were wrong. By 7 PM, we were still on the road and pretty far from where we're going. Everyone was going restless, most especially me since I haven't had the time to rest after working. 

   We finally got to his house at around 9 PM. We had a quick dinner then he was off to his team building. I slept and woke up early to work. A couple of hours after, Allan came home and went to sleep. While working, I took turns with his sister in looking after her kids. They're a handful, but it was so much fun. It certainly helped me relax and surprisingly, made me focus more on my tasks. 

   Allan woke up around mid-afternoon. He played with his nephews while I prepared our things for our trek back to the city. We left Cavite around 6 PM. Lo and behold, we got here by 8. Allan immediately went to sleep since he has a shift at 3 AM. Monday passed by in a blur probably because we were still reeling from the event-filled weekend.

   Things are going back to normal, and still trying to get back my energy. A lot of sleep will definitely help. 

Gridlock

photo courtesy of thegypsy.org

   Earlier, I left Malacanang to go Allan's place in Pasig. Normally, I travel early during Saturdays, but today I wanted to try out and see what I'll discover if I leave the house on a later time. So after my morning work ended, I left at around 2:30. 

   What I found out was terrifying.

   

   There were already a lot of commuters waiting for jeepneys and buses. I made my way to the bus terminal that goes to Pasig. When I boarded, I noticed that were only a couple of passengers there. I thought it would be that way all throughout the  bus ride. I was wrong. The bus hasn't gone that far from the terminal when a throng of passengers got in. Slowly the bus became full and crowded.

   Heavy build up of traffic seems to have sprung in our route and soon after we were stalled every couple of minutes. This is what the average working Filipino deals with. This and the sucky transport system and the constant news of inefficiency of the government. Sadly, we are also to blame for things escalating to this. We never really bothered to care. We took everything as the reality of things and just soldiered on instead of fighting the system and changing the way things are.

   But before that happens, I hope this traffic won't get us late. 

Dilapidated

photo courtesy of lifestyle.inquirer.net

    I spend my weekends and a part of the next week with Allan in Pasig. I usually make my way back to Manila on a Monday or a Tuesday, depending on the appointments that I have for that week. I either take the bus or a combination of jeepney and train on my way home and every time I enter Manila's boundaries I can't help but look with a certain sadness at its buildings.

   Manila is one of the oldest cities in this countries and a lot of structures have built and destroyed here. It saddens me whenever I see an old building not being used. I know that the city hall has condemned them and declared them unfit to be used but that doesn't mean that they just be left there to wither even more. The city could use these buildings in attracting investors in converting the structures into office spaces and housing projects. The city hall could provide the investors with tax exemptions as aid in pouring money and business here. On the other hand, the involvement of the citizens of Manila could also be tapped. Maintaining the cleanliness and safety of the business centers and new housing projects is one way of making the community involve in the progress of its city.

   But hey, I'm just probably tired from travelling. Here's to hoping it happens.